Teams emphasize talent, endurance in round of 64
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Associate Sports Editor
Carpe Diem went home Tuesday night disappointed, after bowing out of the Bookstore Basketball tournament with a 21-15 loss to No. 11 Hit Squad.
The five guys' spirits soon lifted, when they received a phone call saying Hit Squad had been disqualified for having too many varsity athletes on its squad.
Bookstore regulations allow for three varsity football players, or one varsity football player and one player who has suited up for a Division I basketball program within the past 15 years. Hit Squad had three football players on its team in Eric Chappell, Raki Nelson and Joe Ferrer. But since Ferrer had gone home early for Easter, Hit Squad substituted Javin Hunter, who was a walk-on on the Notre Dame varsity basketball team a year ago. That boosted the number of varsity football and basketball players beyond the maximum permitted, so Hit Squad's win did not count.
Carpe Diem advanced to the round of 64 by default, but earned its way into the round of 32 with a 21-17 win over One Investment Banker and Four Guys with a Life. Carpe Diem scored the victory despite the absence of assistant varsity basketball coach Fred Quartlebaum due to a recruiting trip. Greg Morrissey took Quartlebaum's place, to round out the roster of Kortny Hall, Fred Hanft, John Hudek and Brian Goddard.
"The fouls got us in trouble in the second half," Hall said. "But we hit the boards hard and always hustle."
One Investment Banker lost despite the gutsy performance by its players. Senior Mike Aubrey dislocated his shoulder during the game, but forced it back into place and continued to play, although in obvious pain.
"I don't think anything hurt us tonight," Aubrey said. "We just didn't make our shots."
Twenty-second ranked Sexual Frustration V moved on to the round of 32 behind the scoring and rebounding of senior varsity basketball player Skylard Owens. Sexual Frustration V beat Jimmy Chitwood, a group of five Dillon guys who played interhall basketball together, 21-15, after a nailbiter first half.
Sexual Frustration V pulled ahead 18-12, but allowed its opposition back into it with two free throws and a basket. Sexual Frustration finished off Jimmy Chitwood with three straight points.
"We know we're better than them, and we just had to realize that," Nik Green of Sexual Frustration said. "Sky, our big man, is key."
No. 15 Like Whoa used a strong second half to knock out Unleashed 21-14.
The winning team, with Kevin McGuff, three football players in A'Jani Sanders, Deke Cooper and Jay Johnson and varsity soccer player Reggie McKnight, had too much height and athletic skill for Unleashed.
"They had too much height," Bevilacqua said. "They were just jumping over us. There was really nothing we could do."
After a Bevilacqua long distance shot balanced out by a Cooper putback, Like Whoa went into halftime ahead 11-9. Like Whoa started off the second period with three straight baskets, one by Johnson and two by Cooper.
Cooper and Sanders dominated the boards for Like Whoa, while Cooper and Johnson scored most of the second half points. Cooper knocked down six of the final 11 buckets.
"This game was more defense," Johnson said. "The other games we won just by our talent. This game we had to really buckle down on defense and make plays on offense."
Unleashed could have made it more of a contest, but its shots weren't falling through the hoop.
"It could have been close," Bevilacqua said. "If just a few shots went in, but what can you do?"
Sixth-ranked Coco Butter defeated Fun Dip, Pixie Stix, and Three Other Reasons My Nephew Wears a Helmet 21-13 despite a driving downpour.
"Speed and quickness are our strengths," Coco Butter player Tony Fisher said. "We had to slow down our press."
Fisher and two of his fellow Notre Dame football teammates Lee Lafayette and John Owens joined Doug Conners and Fighting Irish track and field star Marshaun West to overpower their much smaller opponents.
"Basically we're just trying to have some fun out here," Fisher said. "It would be real great to win it [the tournament]. As long as we play as a team, we've got a good chance to do that."
No. 13 Double Down sent home the Pistol Packin' Mamas by beating them 21-14.
Double Down, with a roster of five off-campus seniors in Coley Brady, Larry Zimont, Steve Alfred, Daniel McGowan and Matt Ott, scored five of the last seven points in the game to cement the victory.
"We just started running it at the end, and we got a couple of easy baskets," McGowan said. "We played tough defense tonight. If we hit our outside shots, we can go far."
The blustering winds caused Double Down some trouble in knocking down baskets.
"We were having trouble hitting the outside shots tonight with the wind," Brady said. "I think our down low game's pretty good."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 20, 2000
