The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 23

E9 (CTR THREE-OT THRILLER took three overtimes, but the Goshen boys' basketball team pulled out a 65-59 victory over Norwood Wednesday in a Division II sectional tournament game. Coverage, C3 THURSDAY MarckS 2003 Fitar: Josh Picte. fcichlerenqjrBr.com. 513-763-B3B1 FN CINCIfjNATI.COM: Tom Croeschen, Mike Dyer and Ryan Ernst keep you clued in about high school sports on their blog. SEARCH: high school sports Pre Sports Briefs XAVIER BASKETBALL Much riding on XU-Bayton rematch No.

17 Xavier vs. Dayton Tlpoff: 9 p.m. today, Cintas Center TV: ESPN2 Radio: WLW-AM (700) Note: Xavier will honor seniors J. Raymond and CJ. Anderson before the game.

ters the game with 1.443 college points, including 691 at Xavier. When sizing up the Xavier-Dayton game, there are many stats that bode well for the Muskies. XU enters the game on a 2Jgame home win streak against A-10 foes and has a 23-game home victory stretch against Dayton in Cincinnati XU hasn't lost to UD at home since 1981 at Riverfront Coliseum. Dayton has an agenda of its own. Although the Flyers (24-5.

104 A10) are projected NCAA Tournament Anderson Raymond it's our last game here at the Cintas Center or personal accomplishments." With a win, the No. 17 Musketeers could clinch the top seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship tournament and at least a share of a third straight A-10 regular-season title, A win over Dayton, coupled with a victory Saturday at Richmond, would guarantee XU the title outright Regardless of how much he downplays it, the game is big for Raymond. He's six points shy of L0O0, and he's tied with the Class of 2004 (Lionel Chalmers and Remain Sato) for By Shannon Russefl tnaseU6tnfnirtr.com Xavier's showdown against rival Dayton holds sentiment for J. Anderson and J. Raymond, who will be honored in Senior Night festivities before the 9 p.m.

tip at Cintas Center. But, in a game with many implications, a victory takes precedence. "It our last game here and everything like mat, but we have a lot of other tilings riding on this game," Raymond said. "So we just want to focus on that and not try to put any more pressure on the game, saying most wins during a four-year Xavier career. Raymond goes for the lead, and win No.

100, tonight Raymond also has the opportunity to claim a third straight A-10 regular-season title, and Anderson can claim a second. Anderson, a former Manhattan College star, transferred to Xavier in 2006 and played his first season for die Musketeers in 2007-08. Anderson, a Winton Woods and Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep product, en See XAVIER, Page CS 3 ah tefef Houshmandudeh Coles 1 COLLEGE BASKETBALL XU's Phillips voted A-10's top player Phillips has led the Xavier women's basketball team to a 25-5 record and a No. 16 ranking this season, and on Wednesday she earned an individual honor Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year. Phillips, a sophomore center who is averaging 13.6 points and a league-best 11.6 re-! bounds per game this season, was selected as the winner of the award in a vote by A-10 coaches.

She leads the league in field I goal percentage at 62.7 percent and is second in blocks at L77 per game. Phillips also made the A-10's first team and all-; defense team. Seniors Tu-: dy Reed and Jerri Taylor were named to the A-10's third team for the Muske-; teers, who earned the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship and will play Dayton or Saint Louis at noon Saturday in Charlotte, N.C. Go online for Tournament talk Go to Cincinnati.Com to i get ready for the NCAA i Tournament Youll find printable brackets and links to our blogs and Twitter feeds, as well as photos, video and stories 1 on area teams.

Search: NCAA JUTO RACING Johnson ready to get season in gear I Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR's past three Cup titles, but hell have to im- prove if he's to win a fourth. Coming off a mis- take-filled 24th-place ef COMMENTARY Gonzalez's long trip back in its final stretch After 2 tough seasons, apparently healthy again SARASOTA, Fla. -The wall behind the house in Maracay, Venezuela, tells the story. If walls could talk, this one would have started jabbering when Alex Gonzalez was 4 years old. The lit r7TV', TV, I I PAinnrinil UfDe A look atTJ.

Houshmandzadeh and Laveranues Coles and their statistics since 2005. Houshmandzadeh leads all NFL receivers in receptions during this span: Category TJ. Coles Height 6-1 5-11 Weight 199 193 Years 9 10 Age 31 31 Receptions 372 289 Yards 4,084 3,439 Avg. 10.98 11.90 TDs 32 24 tle kid, barely 4 feet tail would come home from school and pound the wall with whatever ball he could find. "Baseball," Gonzalez recalls.

Tennis ball, rubber Paul Daugherty ball." He says the wall has "more than 100 holes in The EnquirerMichael E. Keating Laveranues Coles had 70 receptions for 850 yards and seven touchdowns including this one against the Bengals in October for the Jets last season. He turned down an offer of $6 million to return to New York, then was released. Mm mm it" the concrete pocked by a kid's persistent dream. "My dad says he doesn't want to fix it up," Gonzalez says.

Every great defensive player has a story like this. Former Reds second baseman Pokey Reese would slip cardboard onto his palm, before sliding on the worn-out glove with the hole square in the pocket He'd bounce a ball off a step, the thinking being balls take crazy bounces off steps. React quickly, or risk a bruised face. At 32, Alex Gonzalez has a chance to be a kid again. A year of mental anguish preceded a season of physical pain.

Two years ago, Gonzalez's young son was in mortal peril, with a condition Gonzalez has declined to discuss. Gonzalez went on the Reds' bereavement list three times. Then he spent all of last season on the disabled list with a compression fracture of his left knee. Now, Gonzalez is back at shortstop, taking ground balls, hoping the storm has finally passed. Tm about 90 fort in Las Vegas, Johnson is 19th in the season standings.

"I'm not worried. I'm not stressed," he O'Sullivan could sign as backup QB today Today could be another busy day at Paul Brown Stadium, as the Bengals are close to an agreement to sign J.T. O'Sullivan as a backup quarterback. O'Sullivan started eight games for San Francisco last year, this would mark his seventh team in seven seasons. If O'Sullivan falls through, Rex Grossman will visit today and J.P.

Losman might follow. Also, Minnesota fullback Naufahu Tahi is visiting. Tahi was on the Bengals' practice squad in 2006 and is a low-tender restricted free agent, meaning the Bengals would not have to give up a draft pick to sign him. Joe Reedy at a news conference at Paul Brown Stadium. Last year with the Jets, Coles had 70 receptions for 850 yards and seven touchdowns.

Palmer has not met Coles but has talked to him a lot over the past couple days. Palmer even called Houshmandzadeh, whom Palmer calls a "receiver connoisseur" to get his opinions on Coles. "(Houshmandzadeh) was excited about the move. He's seen a bunch of films on (Coles), and he knows his receivers," Palmer said. "It will be exciting to meet him.

We have a good number of things to work on." The addition of Coles gives Palmer one of the more experienced sets of starting receivers in the NFL Coles, who will be in his 10th season, has 631 career recep- WR Coles added; RB Benson stays; QB Palmer happy By Joe Reedy jreedyenquirer.com Quarterback Carson Palmer experienced one of the lows of his NFL. career Monday when TJ. Houshmandzadeh called him to say he was going to leave the Bengals and sign with Seattle. But in a span of just more than 24 hours, Palmer's outiook and that of the offense has started to turn around Wednesday the Bengals found Houshmandzadeh's replacement at wide receiver, agreeing to a four-year deal with Laveranues Coles worth $28 million. This came on the heels of running back Cedric Ben- told the Associated Press.

"I'm actually really opti- mistic and excited about the next few races." He should be Sunday's race is at Atlanta Motor Speed- i way, where he has three wins and has finished among the top 10 in 10 of his 15 career starts. Lewis was confident of a deal getting done with Coles, saying "We're working very diligently to maybe upgrade us in some areas. Hopefully soon that will be done." When asked when more announcements were coming, Lewis smiled and said: "Soon. Imminent" Coles will be introduced as the newest Bengal at 10:30 am today son re-signing Tuesday. "If been a little up and down, but more up now that both of those guys are signed," Palmer said.

The offense is going to be different because we are going in a different direction with it" During a news conference Wednesday morning to announce Benson's signing, coach Marvin See BENGALS, Page C3 See DAUGHERTY, Page C4 Next Reds vs. Pirates First pitch: 1:05 p.m. today, Ed Smith Stadium lnsldeC4: Baker wants Phillips to be more selective at the plate. Gonzalez passes first game test with flying colors. Share your own sports news on your community's page at Cincinnati.Com using Share.

Post your stories, stats and photos it's easy and it's free. To get started, goto Follow Joe Reedy's Bengals blog and Twitter account (joereedy) for updates from new Bengals receiver Online at Cincinnati.Com Laveranues Coles' press conference today. Will Coles be an adequate replacement at wide receiver forTJ. Houshmandzadeh? Share your opinion by voting in our poll. Search: Bengals flinrinnati finm or NKY.com.

Search: Share UC BASKETBALL For statistics and scores, send a text message with team name (e.g. Redi) or player name (e.g. Bronioii Arroyo) Hurting Bearcats fading fast again 44636 Bearcats seeded 9th The University of Cincinnati Bearcats will be the No. 9 seed in next week's Big East Tournament in New York. That was solidified Wednesday night after Louisville defeated Seton Hall 95-78 and West Virginia beat DePaul 82-63.

The Bearcats play at noon Tuesday in the first game, probably against DePaul. Bill Koch (4INF0) right now," said UC coach Mick Cronin. While Bishop and Davis have continued to play, Williams' absence has been especially damaging. The only scholarship senior on the team averages 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds and provides a spot in the National Invitation Tournament and settled for a cameo appearance in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational. This year, with an NCAA Tournament berth a real possibility, they've lost four of their last five, with one regular-season game remaining before the Big East The word "limping" aptly describes what UC is doing this time around.

Forward Rashad Bishop has a sore hamstring. Guard Larry Davis is nursing a bad ankle and forward Mike Williams has missed the last three games with a sprained medial collateral ligament. "We're the walking wounded By Bill Koch bkoch9enquirer.com For the second straight season, the University of Cincinnati basketball team is limping toward the finish line. Last year, the Bearcats lost their last seven games after positioning themselves at least for a (. iyuib.

tiixru ui- fers the service for free. But fi charges may apply based on I your wireless plan coverage. Not all providers offer the service. See UC, Page C5 aimiE) mm tm mm, jj living vwingprooS; i tm.