SPORTS
Cavs roll North’s Dusty Agner pitches a complete game shutout/2B
WEDNESDAY March 23, 2011
SALISBURY POST
Ronnie Gallagher, Sports Editor, 704-797-4287 rgallagher@salisburypost.com
1B
www.salisburypost.com
Strickland fills void for Carolina BY AARON BEARD Associated Press
AssociAted Press
dexter strickland has aided UNc after losing Larry drew eariler in the season.
CHAPEL HILL — Dexter Strickland doesn’t seem to mind that all the attention goes to his touted North Carolina teammates. The sophomore knows the Tar Heels will have a tough time winning in the NCAA tournament without him. Strickland is the team’s top perimeter defender who frequently draws the opponent’s top scorer. He’s started every game but one, yet also serves as the backup point guard for a team with
just eight scholarship players heading into Friday’s game against Marquette in the round of 16. And he’s doing that while playing through a right knee injury that might require surgery after the season. “I’m going to do whatever I have to do to contribute to winning,” Strickland said Tuesday. “Whatever position I have to play, I’m going to do that to help my team win.” Strickland is averaging about seven points per game for the Tar Heels (28-
7), the No. 2 seed in the East Regional. He was the only player among North Carolina’s starting lineup not to make one of the all-Atlantic Coast Conference teams this year. But with freshman star Harrison Barnes (team-high 15.5 points) and 7-footer Tyler Zeller (15.2), the Tar Heels don’t need Strickland to shoot a bunch of 3-pointers or score a lot of points. His value in Sunday’s second-round win against Washington showed up most in the stats of the player he defended. He
pestered Washington’s Isaiah Thomas — who came in averaging about 17 points and shooting 45 percent — into 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting in Sunday’s second-round victory in Charlotte. “It’s hard because one game we’re asking him to chase a guy around screens like crazy, and the next we’re telling him he’s got to stay in front of the basketball and the guy is quick as lightning,” coach Roy Williams said.
See STRICKLAND, 4B
East blanks West BY MIKE LONDON mlondon@salisburypost.com
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east rowan’s Will Johnson earned the save with a key strikeout in the sixth inning.
NFL will bring kickoffs to 35 BY BARRY WILNER Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — The NFL will move kickoffs up 5 yards to the 35-yard line, keep touchbacks coming out to the 20 and allow the number of players in a blocking wedge to remain at two. Kick coverage players now will be limited to lining up 5 yards or fewer from the spot of the kickoff. Team owners also voted Tuesday to make all scoring plays reviewable by the replay official and referee. But they tabled a proposal to ban players launching themselves to make a tackle, and will reconsider it in May. The league’s competition committee proposed placing the ball at the 25 after touchbacks on kickoffs and banning the wedge altogether.
Several coaches expressed concern about making too many changes to kickoffs, also saying bringing touchbacks out 5 more yards would affect field posiAssociAted Press tion too much. Coaches rich McKay, co-chairman of the worried about an increase in touchbacks from the 16 NFL competition committe, speaks percent of kickoffs last to reporters. season. “Any time there’s a touch- Joshua Cribbs wasn’t back and now it’s not coming thrilled by the changes, to the 20,” Saints coach Sean tweeting: “Essentially takPayton said, “I think that that ing returners out of the probably was the most dras- game...injuries will still tic of the four or five items take place, then what move that constituted one rule.” it up again, or eliminate it Making kickoffs safer was all together.” the objective, and Payton beOn touchbacks, compelieves the owners met it, vot- tition committee chairman ing 26-6 for the new rule. Rich McKay said coaches “The bottom line is it’s ... were concerned about an the highest risk of injury play,” he said. See NFL, 4B Browns standout returner
MOUNT ULLA — East R o w a n E. Rowan 6 baseball W. Rowan 0 coach Brian Hightower knows when he hands rocket-armed righty Bradley Robbins the keys, there’s always a chance Robbins is going to back over the rose bushes, knock down the mailbox and put the Mustangs’ car in a ditch. But there’s also the chance of a very sweet ride, and that was the case on Tuesday. East won 6-0 at West Rowan for another NPC victory. “It was kind of a relaxing game, more relaxing than I’m used to catching Bradley,” said cheerful East backstop Luke Thomas. “Sometimes I’m jumping around. Tonight, I just settled in. He had his curve, and when he lost the fastball I knew we could go back to the curveball for a strike.” The strongest arm in the county dangles from Robbins’ right shoulder, and he struck out 13 in 52⁄3 innings. He had a no-hitter until Madison Osborne singled in the sixth. “I realized I had a no-hitter,” Robbins said. “Maybe I overthrew a little bit, but I really don’t think it affected me.” Robbins, a junior who has been clocked as high as 91 mph on radar guns, overmatched West’s lineup. He fanned two in each of the first three innings. Then he blew away the side in the fourth. If there was a moment of truth for Robbins, it came when he walked two of the
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east starting pitcher Bradley robbins struck out 13 West rowan batters in the Mustang win tuesday. first three men he faced, but he got through the first inning. “A couple of deep breaths really helped,” Robbins said. Robbins had a hopping fastball, but a lot of his strikeouts came when he threw curveballs to hitters expecting heat. “Bradley did walk five, but I’m not complaining because 13 strikeouts and one hit is not too bad,” East coach Brian Hightower said. “His fastball was live; his curveball was very good. It’s just a matter of him staying focused on every pitch. If he does that, his pitch count comes down, and he’s completing games like this.” West hurler Matt Miller was in jam after jam, but he kept his team in the game. Miller avoided the big inning,
but East pecked away for single runs in the first, third and fifth. Effectively wild and firing a ton of curveballs, Miller walked seven and hit four batters, but he also limited East’s strong lineup to three singles. “I hit a few people, but I felt good out there,” Miller said. “We’ve just got to hit the ball better to start winning games, and we’re definitely confident it’s going to happen.” East (7-1, 3-0 NPC) is again one of the best teams in the state. For what it’s worth, West (1-10, 1-4 NPC) has to be the best 1-10 team in the state, and someone is going to pay for the Falcons’ struggles eventually. West shook up its defense,
See EAST, 3B
Richmond is basketball mecca BY HANK KURZ JR. Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — Rally over here, rally over there, rallies planned all around Richmond as the city embraces having two teams advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament. Take a bow Richmond and VCU. The Spiders and Rams have made Richmond the first city since Los Angeles in 2007 to send two teams to the round of 16 in the same year. And Richmond also boosts the same number of teams left in the tournament as the Big East. Both teams depart Wednesday to San Antonio and Richmond’s own canal walk will be the site of a community pep rally. The celebration will be highlighted by the unfurling of a huge banner showing television commentator Dick Vitale preparing to eat crow. “We wanted to poke a little
fun at him because he was so wrong about our city,” said Jack Berry, executive director of Venture Richmond, an economic development group focused of promoting downtown. He said the image will show Vitale holding a plate of crow with the words “Eat Crow Baby.” Vitale and other basketball experts lambasted the NCAA selection committee for including VCU in the field ahead of other teams they deemed more worthy. In response, the Rams gone on an impressive NCAA tournament run, beating three schools from power conferences by an average of better than 16 points. VCU plays Florida State on Friday night, after Richmond takes on Kansas. The atmosphere at VCU is much different than it was a few weeks ago, after the Rams lost five of eight games in February, seemingly dashing their NCAA tournament hopes. When they failed to
win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, fans wished them luck in the NIT. “It’s been crazy, everybody beeping their horns and people congratulating you and stuff,” point guard Joey Rodriguez said after he returned to campus from the Rams’ stunningly dominant victories in Chicago. “A couple of weeks ago, they were like, what are these guys doing?” Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said he expects a huge turnout for the rally, and he was still working Tuesday night hoping to arrange travel to San Antonio so he can support the teams. “I would like nothing more than to be there,” he said. The schools intend to transport students to the rally after the fans gather to see their team off, and there will be free t-shirts celebrating the tandem handed out at the celebration.
See RICHMOND, 4B