The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 105

COURIER NEWS --um FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2006 C-7 SCOUTING REPORT WHO: No. 8 Rutgers women (18-3, 100) vs. West Virginia (12-9, 4-6). WHENWHERE! 7 tonightWest Virginia University Coliseum, Morgantown, W.Va. TVRADIO: ESPNU88.7 WRSU-FM, in i ii us RUTGERS STARTERS Cappie Pondexter(Sr.

5-9, 22. 1 3.4apg); Matee Ajavon (So, 5-8, 12.0 ppg, 3.9 ape): Essence Carson (So, 6-0, 7.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg); Mariota Theodoris F6-2L2. 1 ppg, 1.7 rpg); Michelle Campbell 6-2, 9.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg). WEST VIRGINIA STARTERS Brittany Davis-White 5-7, 9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg); LaQuita Owens 5-9, 6.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg); Ashley Powell 5-6, 2.3 ppg, 4.0 apg); Chakhia Cole (So, F.5-10, 11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg); Olayinka Sanni (So, 6-2, 13,2 ppg, 4.6 rpg). RUTGERS REPORT The Knights are coming off one of their biggest regular-season wins in school history, possibly their biggest ever ontheroad.asthey defeated Connecticut 60-56 Tuesday on the UConn campus.

Freshman center Kia Vaughn and senior forwardcenter Michelle Campbell had solid games to give the front court perhaps its best showing of the season. Guards Cappie Pondexter and Matee Ajavon combined for 34 points, but more importantly made clutch shots down the stretch to keep the Huskies at bay. The Knights have won their past six games by an average of 14.8 points, and have won eight of theirpast nine sincea loss at Michigan State by two points. They have won their past 18 Big East Conference games, dating to last season. WEST VIRGINIA REPORT The Mountaineers are coming off a 57-55 loss at Providence on Tuesday, their third loss in their pastfourgames and fifth loss in their past seven.

They have been playing without leading scorer Meg Bulger, who is out for season after injuring her knee at St. John's two weeks ago. Despite that, West Virginia only lost by five at St. John's, came home and defeated nationally ranked DePaul and played Connecticut tough on the road before falling 58-50. Two other conference losses came in overtime.

Sophomore center Olayinka Sanni paces the Mountaineers now with 13.2 points pergameand leadsthe Big East with a .643 field-goal percentage. Sophomore forward Chakhia Cole averages 1 1.0 points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds. They start three sophomores, one junior and a freshman. Paul Franklin, Gannett New Jersey heat only when necessary. After a solid win over DePaul and the signature win at Connecticut, perhaps Rutgers is poised to take charge of its destiny.

"Maybe we're peaking late, and that's fine with me," Theodoris said. "I'd rather peak late than peak early and die a horrible death. There is a sense of urgency. Ifs like, Yo, time is rurining out' I tlunk we're close. I think we're getting there." The destination is Boston and the Final Four.

The goal is to be destiny's child. "We can't keep going up 33-6 and losing leads. We gotta' put the nail in the coffin," Theodoris said. "Great teams don't (blow leads). When I think of the UConn teams of Sue (Bird), Swin (Cash) and Diana (Taurasi), that team was a monster.

I mean, they killed you. You had no prayer, no hope. "We can do that," she said. "Why not?" By MUL FRANKLIN Gannett New Jersey MORGANTOWN, W.Va. The Rutgers women's basketball team still hasn't played a complete game.

And that's a good thing. As the Scarlet Knights put their unbeaten (10-0) Big East Conference record on the line against West Virginia tonight, they do so coming off their biggest game of the season. By winning Tuesday at Connecticut, Rutgers not only took sole possession of first place in the Big East, it also proved it could beat a national championship contender on the road. Connecticut, No. 4 in the country, represents a message sent not only to the country, but also to the Rutgers team.

"That game will help us get a swagger," senior forward Mariota Theodoris said, "and that's something we had to have. Coach (C. They play phenomenally every game." Tonight will be the first test to see if the deed follows the words. Senior center Michelle Campbell believes it will "We're the only ones who can beat ourselves," she offered. "If we play free, if we play hard and play defense, well be fine.

It's our last year. I think the underclassmen understand, but they really don't understand the position that we're in. We just have to know in our hearts that we're the only team that can beat ourselves. "I think we're starting to come together. Games are starting to look real smooth to us.

The passes are there, the shots are there. We're on schedule," she said, "but it's been real stressful up to this point." The stress has essentially been the result of a team that has not been able to hold large leads, a team that hasn't had a killer instinct, a team that turns up the Vivian Stringer) has it all the time, but the team has not" Rutgers is looking to go 19-3 tonight before heading home to be heavy favorites against Villanova and Syracuse next week. They play at Marquette and Pitt the following week and then wrap up the regular season Feb. 27 at home against the Huskies. "Coach told us we can't dwell on that win, that we can't let the straws trip you," Theodoris said.

That's how she puts it, and it's the best analogy for what can happen in the future. You see a Connecticut coming for weeks ahead, but not necessarily the West Virginias. I'm not saying anything against West Virginia, but because of the Connecticut rivalry, it's a game people circle as soon as the schedule comes out "We have to stay focused," she added. That the sign of a great team, a championship team also. fct Virginia suffers 1st conference defeat I rrri sill I lANDLEKAl Ramos' 1 Hall of Fame induction py jgF JfL JF 3 I Mm ciiiuuuiicu fV4 mmmmfJ PHOTO BY TIM LARSENAP Ramon Ramos, the center on the 1989 Seton Hall basketball team that made it to the NCAA championship game, talks to reporters before being inducted into the Seton Hall Hall of Fame on Thursday in West Orange.

Ramos signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, but his career was cut short after an automobile crash sent him into a three-month coma and left him with irreversible brain damage. llitiil in that game, and he landed with such force you could hear the frightful sound from, Tucson to South Orange. Said Rebimbas: There was an echo I can still hear." There also was a mild concussion, not that a little thing like this would keep Ramon Ramos from going back into the game. While all this might tell you something about the man who now lights up a room with the smile of a child, it doesn't give you the full picture. There'sastorythat was told and retold about Ramon that gets you closer.

No one seems to want to remember the details, probably because there was another Seton Hall player involved and no one wants to tell any tales out of school. But as far as we know, this is a true story, and even if it weren't, it still helps you get to the bottom of Ramon Ramos. In 1988 ayoung female reporter came up from Puerto Rico to interview him, and while they were talking in the locker room after a game, one of Ramon's teammates said something or did something mildly offensive. Ramon finished the interview, and when the young 1 v-JN By The Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) Ronald Ramon and Aaron Gray scored 16 points each and No. 14 Pittsburgh shook off a two-game losing streak to perplexNo.

9 West Virginia with its man-to-man defense, holding star Kevin Pittsnogle scoreless in a 57-53 victory Thursday night. West Virginia (17-5, 8-1 Big East) shot miserably 34 percent overall and 22 percent (6-of-27) from 3-point range in losing its first conference game this season, yet still was within three points in the final minute. But Pitt star Carl Krauser, held to three points until then, hit a driving layup with 39 seconds remaining and Pittsburgh (18-3, 7-3) held on to avoid its first three-game losing streak since late in the 2000-01 season. Krauser scored five of his eight points in the final minute. No.

19 OHIO STATE 94 No. 22 MICHIGAN 85 ANN ARBOR, Mich. Jamar Butler scored a career-high 20 points to lead Ohio State to a victory over Michigan for theBuckeyes' first win at Crisler Arena since 2002. The victory moved Ohio State (17-3, 6-3) into a three-way tie with Michigan State and Illinois for second place in the Big Ten. The three teams trail Iowa by a half-game.

No. 15 GEORGETOWN 64 SI JOHN'S 41 WASHINGTON Brandon Bowman scored 16 points, Roy Hibbert had 14, and Georgetown's defense throttled the St. John's attack from the opening whistle in a victory that ran the Hoyas' winning streak to seven. Bowman and Hibbert were a combined 12-for-16 from the field, a one-two punch that accounted for 30 of Georgetown's first 50 points as the 15th-ranked Hoyas (17-4, 8-2 Big East) avoided a letdown in between games against ranked teams Pittsburgh and West Virginia. SALeSinYTO I II HELP A CHILD rriTin woman left the room he went over and gently told his teammate never to do that again.

It embarrasses the school, it embarrasses me, and it embarrasses you that's what he allegedly told him. "He was like a grownup," said Felix Roman, one of the student managers for Seton Hall in 1989, and a life-long friend from Puerto Rico. "He was a lot more mature than the rest of us," Rebimbas said. "We looked to him for guidance." A couple of hours later, after dinner, Carlesimo got up and presented Ramos, unsuccessfully trying to choke back the tears. Ramon slowly made his way to the podium, and spoke.

You could understand most of what he said, remarkable considering how he was just a few years ago. "My sincerest thanks to everyone who in one way of another made this recognition possible," he said. Then everyone in the room got up and thanked him, with a standing ovation. BillHandleman is a Gannett New Jersey columnist Beach him at handleapp.com TOP 25 ROUNDUP Women No. 6 MARYLAND 98 No.

1 NORTH CAROLINA 95 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Ashleigh Newman and Marissa Coleman helped sixth-ranked Maryland put a shocking end to North Carolina's hopes of an unbeaten season. Newman hit a long desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, and Coleman scored five straight points afterward to put the Terrapins ahead to stay, ending North Carolina's 30-game home winning streak. Crystal Langhorne scored 25 points to lead the Terrapins (22-2, 9-1 AtlanticCoast Conference), who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final 12 minutes of regulation. No.

3 LSU 72, No. 5 TENNESSEE 69 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Seimone Augustus scored 32 points and LSU became the first Southeastern Conference team to beat Tennessee in Knoxville in nearly 10 years. The fifth-ranked Lady Vols (21-3, 7-2) had not lost a league game in Thompson-Boling Arena since a loss to Georgia on Dec. 8, 1996.

No. 10 PURDUE 76, IPFW 52 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Katie Gearlds scored 20 points, Aya Tra-ore added 17andNo. 10 Purdue allowed only one basket in the last 7:42 as it pulled away from Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne. No.

21 BOSTON COLLEGE 57 GEORGIA TECH 55 BOSTON Kindyll Dorsey hit a baseline jumper with 7.8 seconds to play, lifting Boston College. I3 0 1 RENTALS I WITH CANCER GiamitEv go) WEST ORANGE Ramon Ramos saw an old teammate and his smile lit up the room. It was so genuine, so openly honest that you could have mistaken it for the smile of a child, and this brought a tear to the eye. Ramos had not seen John Morton for at least 15 years, not since he was in the hospital in Portland. Ramon was in and out of a coma for a year after the accident, and the doctors weren't convinced he would survive.

Now, all these years later, there they were, hugging each other. Ramos was so excited to see his old teammate that he hopped with joy-Again it brought a tear to the eye. If you had known Ramos back when he was playing basketball for Seton Hall, if you had known him even a little bit, the scene being played out before you Thursday night was both the warmest and the saddest you could imagine. The Seton Hall community had come to Mayfair Farms to honor all the new inductees into the school's Hall of Fame. But the evening took on more meaning when it was announced that Ramos would make the trip from Puerto Rico.

Many, like Morton, hadn't seen him in years, not since 1989, not since the magical run through the NCAA Tournament that ended in Seattle's King Dome, final game of the season, overtime, frightful call by an official, free throws. A few, like Jose Rebimbas, had visited him in Puerto Rico. And his old coach, P.J. Carlesimo, goes back periodically to check on him. Carlesimo has known Ramos since he was in the eighth grade.

Herb Brown, Larry Brown's older brother, told Carlesimo he should take a look at the kid. That was a quarter-century ago. Time flies. Ramos came to Seton Hall from San Jose High School, where English was taught as a second language. He struggled with his English at first, but he worked at it, just like he worked at everything basketball, school work, every- mj nOniilii- 4'fiHmltnm iHi (iHWi rriTtTn thing.

As a senior, he was honored as the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year. How's that for determination? "You could use him as an example," Carlesimo said. "You could point to him and tell the other kids, 'See that, that's the way you're supposed to do it, that's the way you're supposed to "He taught us more than we taught him." It was more than the selfless basketball skills, the countless screens he set for Morton and Andrew Gaze. It was more than rock-solid presence he gave that great Seton Hallteamofl988-89. "He was never a center-of-atten-tion guy," said Bruce Hamburger, then an assistant at Seton Hall, now the head coach at Kean.

"He was the kind of guy you could always count on. He had a quiet toughness about him." It also was more than the effort he putinto his studies, all those late nights poring over books that would teach him to be an accountant which is what he told people wanted to be when he grew up, even after the Portland Trail Blazers signed him, thereby offering him a glamorous life. "He was going to be more successful than some people might have thought," Carlesimo said. "He was probably going to be a better pro that a college player, because thegame'ssomuchmorephysicaL" And he was physical, Ramon Ramos, solid as a rock. "PJ.

had a tough time yelling at him," laughed Rebimbas, who's now the head coach at William Pa-terson. "But I don't know if it was Ramon's size or if it was the relationship they had." Rebimbas recalled the first-round game in 1989. A Southwest Missouri State player cut Ramon's legs out from under him Linden 1 PASTA NIGHT wrht MONDAY AND TUfSDAY $995 RJNA.R0SSA.KS rf DnDfil ICS'' ovawa Give Her A Gift That You Can Both Sexy Lingerie Starting at $50 Sq. Ft Include 3 RECEIVE MAXIMUM "FAIR MARKET VALUE" American Children's Cancer Association Immadlata Pick-up Any Condition Federal Tax ID 22-3545753 cxJhit I sumtr-muRair mm Cm i I nIEOT4SS COURTYARDS AT PIUCKEMIN RTE 202-206 PIUCKEMIN, NJ 908781.5100 FAX 908.781.6747 3 Business Day vuiimioiwiai Custom Work Plainfield, NJ 0 908-561-3374 Household Cleanouts Junk Removal most caama for laaa than It would cost you fo rent a dumpater younelfl 908-725-4751 1-888-788-HOPE 908-486-LOVE (5683) Tcdriiia Baby Dolls Bustiera Costumes Body Stockings PVC Leather Stockings Shower Gifts Bras Lotions Games Toys Novelties For The Man In Your Life: G's Silk Thongs Snorts IT Template-Installation, nesiutjnuai at Professional 8a Tyler Place South 908-561-3700 Fax From Renovations to Additions Fuiiy, insure" 6PA-fTING OA 1-866-725-0100 Ucemad Thu Consumer Sizes Small to Largo and Plus Size to 4X HOURS: Major Credit Cards Accepted Personal D.A. DeSantis LLC HOME REPAIR AND REMODELING Custom Carpentry Kitchens Baths Doors Exterior A Interior Repair Painting Decorating FULLY INSURED AND LICENSED (908) 874-4883 I'iftlTif 1023 W.

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