The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 39

COLLEGE BASKfffBALL Thursday, Jan. 16, 1992 The Philadelphia Inquirer 5-C 4tMntic 10, short on numbers, considers a merger Big East Conference Local basketball notes Conference All Games I Pet. Pet, Syracuse 4 1 .800 12 1 .923 Villanova 4 1 .800 6 6 .500 Connecticut 3 1 .750 12 1 .923 Pittsburgh 3 1 .750 1 1 5 .688 St. John's 3 2 ,600 9 4 .692 Georgetown 2 2 .500 9 3 .750 Seton Hall 2 3 .400 9 4 .692 Boston College 1 4 .200 9 5 .643 Miami 1 4 ,200 6 9 .400 Providence 0 4 .000 8 8 .500 2) and Seton Hall (2-3). The Redmen must be stunned after an inexplicable 4S42 loss to league newcomer Miami on Tuesday night.

St. John's shot 30.6 percent from the field and was trailing, 13-1, with 13 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half. Miami coach Leonard Hamilton slowed the game down. The Hurricanes took at least 30 seconds of the 45-second shot clock on nearly every possession. It was the Hurricanes' Big East home debut, and other league teams can rest assured that Miami will slow the game down again after Tuesday's success.

Sure shot. To explain La Salle's recent success, look no further than the shooting statistics of forward Jack Hurd. In his latest five games, Hurd, the 6-foot-6 senior from Lititz, is shooting 63 percent from the floor (46 for 73) and 61 percent from three-point land (25 for 41). The Explorers won four of the five. Before that streak, Hurd was shooting 31.5 percent from the field.

McAllister update. In retrospect, Penn coach Fran Dunphy said, it might have been better for Will McAllister if he had sat out the first semester of this season so he could get his grades in order. McAllister, arguably Penn's best player, will miss the Quakers' remaining 17 games for academic reasons. He hopes to be back for the beginning of next season. "Will could have done better last term and he didn't," Dunphy said.

"So we as a staff, with input from his academicl advisers, decided to sit him out. He's too good a kid to let slide any further. "The idea now is to try to have him put some space between academics and any eligibility problems. He's a great young man and I think he'll come back strong." McAllister, a 6-6 forward from South Jersey, averaged 10 points in Penn's first six games this season. Miscellany.

Things are looking up for Villanova both on and off the. court. Two of the Wildcats' early nees, guard Roscoe Harris of Bay-onne, N.J., and forward Eric Eberz of Buffalo, have met the academic qual. ifications of Proposition 48 and wilt be eligible to play as freshmen. Harris and Eberz had not received at least a 700 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or a 17 on the American College Test, when they were signed by Villanova in The Wildcats' other recruit, forward Kerry Kittles of New Orleans, had qualified when he signed.

The Temple Owls are shooting a miserable 62 percent from the free-throw line. Aaron McKie is shooting 86.7 percent, and Vic Carstarphen 78,3 percent. But Eddie Jones (57.6), Mik Kilgore (56.3), Mark Strickland (50.0) and Frazier Johnson (37.5) are bringing up the rear Alert: The second game of Sunday's Big Five doubleheader, La Salle vs. Penn, will start at 7 p.m., even if the opener at 4:30, Temple vs. St.

Joe's, runs short, phis State moved from the Metro. A merger with the A-10 would provide an automatic NCAA tournament bid for the schools from the Great Midwest. The conference won't have one until 1992-93, at the earliest. South is North in Big East. Did you notice that Villanova is tied for the lead in the Big East today? Anyone who predicted two weeks ago that the Wildcats would be in first place with a 4-1 record today would be considered loopy then and a genius now.

But sure enough, Villanova has recovered to win four straight games and upset nationally ranked Georgetown, Connecticut and Seton Hall in the process. And look at the top five teams in the conference. Right with Villanova at 4-1 is Syracuse. Right behind Villanova are Connecticut and Pitt. By M.

G. Missanelli and Diane Pucin Inquirer Staff Vrtun i The Atlantic Ten Conference has come up with a new way to combat its declining membership: a merger. Sources close to the situation say that A-10 officials are talking with officials from the Great Midwest Conference, the intent being to merge the two conferences into a 14-school, two-division league. Atlantic Ten commissioner Ron Bertovich declined to comment. But Bill Bradshaw, the athletic director at DePaul and a prime force last year in the creation of the Great Midwest, confirmed that such a merger is a possibility.

"We've talked to them," Bradshaw said. "To say it's likely to happen at this point is kind of remote. But there's all kinds of things going on out there, as far as league reorganization is concerned. So I'd say that nothing is out of the question." The Atlantic Ten will be down to eight teams next season; Duquesne will move to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, and Penn State has already left for the Big Ten. Last year, before Duquesne left, A-10 officials reportedly made pitches to Virginia Tech, South Florida and North Carolina-Charlotte, to try to replace Penn State.

All three wound up in the restructured Metro Conference. The Great Midwest is composed of Alabama-Birmingham, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Memphis State, and St. Louis. Cincinnati and Mem- The Huskies, that's no surprise. They were picked to finish third.

But Syracuse and Pitt were supposed to struggle this season. Pitt lost four starters from last season and Syracuse lost three, including Billy Owens. Georgetown is 2-2. Before the season, the Panthers and the Hoyas were picked to finish behind Villanova and in the second division. The second division is where you'll find preseason favorites St.

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4 tif ft 5-position incline i1 Jack La Lanne 175 lb. Spiral Lock FITNESS QUEST Jane Fonda Weight Set with bumper guard Stepper V- 119" ST. JOE'S, from 1-C The Rams, with Andre Samuel and Mike Brown leading the way, started to rain in three-pointers, and this one was over early. "We just couldn't get any closer," said Hawks coach John Griffin, whose team saw its three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in A-10 play. "To their credit, IRhode Island! played defense.

We couldn't get a good shot. They contested every pass and pushed us farther from the basket than we wanted to be." It wasn't a lack of effort on the part of St. Joseph's. The Hawks pressed the Rams for more than a half. They trapped them.

They beat them by 49-40 on the boards. And when all else failed, they mugged them. The Rams, who came at the Hawks in waves, were relentless with their nine-man rotation. "We played selfishly," Blunt said. "We didn't play defense." As the score turned nastier from the Hawks' point of view, the Rams handled themselves like a team that was good and knew it.

And it showed with 6 minutes, 58 seconds left, when Samuels swooped in off the wing and threw down a tomahawk dunk. He turned to run back up the court and passed Blunt, shouted, pointed his finger at him as if to say, "You can't block that shot." "I couldn't hear what he said," Blunt said. "He pointed at me, but it was too loud for me to hear." Indeed it was. The fans were on their feet, and before they could sit down, Rhode Island's Abdul Fox threw down a two-handed jam. "They're unselfish," Griffin "They don't care who gets the shot.

Whoever is open takes the shot." Samuel led the Rams with IS points, while Brown, Carlos Cofield and freshman Jason Alexander scored 14 each. Jeff Kent added 13. Bernard Jones, who scored 11 points, was St. Joseph's only double-digit scorer other than Blunt. Shots and sometimes even passes the Hawks made 20 turnovers were hard to come by last night for the Hawks.

"The Rams were overplaying the passing lanes," Amos lamented. "We couldn't reverse the ball. A lot of times, we were standing there just stuck with it." And in the end, St. Joseph's was stuck with a loss. orig.

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Qualify In your sport and you can win a Certificate of Achievement Halftime: Rhode Island, 41-30. Three-point goals: St. Joseph's 0-8 (CWarley 0-1. Poles 0-1, Blunt 0-3, McKay 0-3). Rhode Island 9-21 (Kent 1-1, Brown 4-7, Samuel 1-2, Alexander 2-4, Cofield 1-4.

Keebler 0-21. Steals: St. Joseph's 6 (McKay 3. Poles 1, Amos 1). Rhode Island 9 (Brown 3, Alexander 2, Ivey-Jones 2, Easterlmg 1, Kent 1).

Team rebounds: St. Joseph's 6, Rhode Island 1. Turnovers: St. Joseph's 20, Rhode Island 12. Blocked shots: St.

Joseph's 2 (Poles 2). Rhode Island 9 (Kent 4, Collins 3, Samuel 21. Officials: Gerry Donaghy, David Day nd Tom Scott. Attendance: 4,407. from the President, a letter from Arnold Schwarzenegger and more! A S6 processing let must accompany each application.

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