Ecc

A shaky financial picture in New England led the North Atlantic Conference to postpone expansion plans yesterday, leaving Towson State in the East Coast Conference for the 1991-92 school year.A member of the ECC since 1982, Towson State applied for membership in the North Atlantic in February. Eight athletic directors from that conference met in Boston yesterday, but before considering Towson State's application, they instead decided to table any expansion plans.Athletic director Bill Hunter said Towson State remains interested in the North Atlantic.

The East Coast Conference is down to three colleges, but former members of the ECC are having a major impact on Division I basketball. In the final week of the regular season for most minor conferences, one-time members of the ECC are atop all four of the leagues to which they scattered.The leader of the North Atlantic Conference is Drexel, which moved to the NAC from the ECC in 1991. Delaware, which also moved from the ECC in 1991, went through the conference unbeaten last season, but it dropped to third place after losing Friday night to a Northeastern team with a strong Baltimore flavor.

The East Coast Conference accepted State University of New York at Buffalo yesterday as its seventh member for the 1991-92 season, prompting commissioner John Carpenter to say last night that the league was stable.Buffalo was voted in yesterday afternoon in a vote of the six school presidents, including Towson State president Hoke L. Smith, at league headquarters in Bordentown, N.J."Our immediate concern was to get things stable," Carpenter said. "Seven gives us more flexibility. I think our league has gained a lot of credibility for salvaging things."

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. -- An improbable turn of events snatched the East Coast Conference baseball title from UMBC, so the Retrievers will spend an anxious week hoping for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.On Sunday night, coach John Jancuska's fence-busters were 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament, one win away from becoming the first team to represent UMBC in an NCAA championship since the Retrievers moved up to Division I in 1986. Rider, however, rose up to take two straight from UMBC, earning its sixth ECC title in the past 10 years with yesterday's 5-4 victory at Mercer County Park.

The East Coast Conference, which will lose two members this year, announced yesterday that Brooklyn College will become a member this fall, a move that will give back to the conference its automatic bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament.The University of Delaware and Drexel are leaving the ECC for the North Atlantic Conference, which would have left the conference with just five teams, one below the minimum required by the NCAA for an automatic bid to the tournament.

The East Coast Conference is down to three colleges, but former members of the ECC are having a major impact on Division I basketball. In the final week of the regular season for most minor conferences, one-time members of the ECC are atop all four of the leagues to which they scattered.The leader of the North Atlantic Conference is Drexel, which moved to the NAC from the ECC in 1991. Delaware, which also moved from the ECC in 1991, went through the conference unbeaten last season, but it dropped to third place after losing Friday night to a Northeastern team with a strong Baltimore flavor.

Towson State, the defending champion, and No. 1 seed, opened a 5-1 lead, then turned to a delay game to thwart the upset bid of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, 8-5, in the semifinals of the ninth annual East Coast Conference women's lacrosse tournament at Towson yesterday.Delaware, a four-time titlist, set up a rematch of last year's final when it pulled away from Drexel in the second half for a 14-6 triumph in the other semifinal. The two winners will play for the title today at 1 p.m.Senior Kelly Bush, the ECC's leader in assists (37)

With less than a minute left in the game, the chant from the Towson State fans began to fill the UMBC Fieldhouse: "N-I-T, N-I-T, N-I-T . . ."A berth in this year's National Invitation Tournament probably is wishful thinking for Towson State, but that surely didn't stop the celebration last night after the second-seeded Tigers defeated top-seeded Hofstra, 69-61, for their third straight East Coast Conference tournament title.After all, Towson had come a long, long way just to reach this point.

With less than a minute left in the game, the chant from the rTCTowson State fans began to fill the UMBC Fieldhouse: "N-I-T, N-I-T, N-I-T . . ."A berth in this year's National Invitation Tournament probably is wishful thinking for Towson State, but that surely didn't stop the celebration last night after the second-seeded Tigers defeated top-seeded Hofstra, 69-61, for their third straight East Coast Conference tournament title.After all, Towson had come a long, long way just to reach this point.

During an eight-year run at the Towson Center, the East Coast Conference basketball tournament has evolved from a minor event important only to the principals into a full-scale happening complete with league-record crowds and national cable television for the championship game.Nearly 9,000 attended the three sessions last March, with 4,435 cramming the arena for Towson State's title clinching."The first year, we had a big snowstorm and lost money," recalled Towson athletic director Bill Hunter.

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. -- An improbable turn of events snatched the East Coast Conference baseball title from UMBC, so the Retrievers will spend an anxious week hoping for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.On Sunday night, coach John Jancuska's fence-busters were 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament, one win away from becoming the first team to represent UMBC in an NCAA championship since the Retrievers moved up to Division I in 1986. Rider, however, rose up to take two straight from UMBC, earning its sixth ECC title in the past 10 years with yesterday's 5-4 victory at Mercer County Park.

La Salle was there at the start of the East Coast Conference, as were Temple, St. Joseph's and American. Later migrations took Bucknell, Lafayette and Lehigh, and then Delaware and Drexel. The most recent movement in the never-ending realignment of Division I athletics has the ECC's days dwindling down to a precious few.The ECC opened for business in 1974 as a basketball coaches' conference, with Gary Williams, Paul Westhead, Tom Davis, Jim Valvano, Don Casey and Joe Harrington roaming the sidelines.

With less than a minute left in the game, the chant from the Towson State fans began to fill the UMBC Fieldhouse: "N-I-T, N-I-T, N-I-T . . ."A berth in this year's National Invitation Tournament probably is wishful thinking for Towson State, but that surely didn't stop the celebration last night after the second-seeded Tigers defeated top-seeded Hofstra, 69-61, for their third straight East Coast Conference tournament title.After all, Towson had come a long, long way just to reach this point.

With less than a minute left in the game, the chant from the rTCTowson State fans began to fill the UMBC Fieldhouse: "N-I-T, N-I-T, N-I-T . . ."A berth in this year's National Invitation Tournament probably is wishful thinking for Towson State, but that surely didn't stop the celebration last night after the second-seeded Tigers defeated top-seeded Hofstra, 69-61, for their third straight East Coast Conference tournament title.After all, Towson had come a long, long way just to reach this point.

It ended with UMBC's Skip Saunders throwing up two prayers, both from three-point range, both of which went unanswered.It ended with Hofstra coach Butch van Breda Kolff watching from a hospitality room window, a floor above the action.It ended with the shriek of an official's whistle and a string of disqualifications as five players -- three from UMBC -- fouled out.In a game of diminishing returns, Hofstra outlasted UMBC, 77-74, yesterday at UMBC Fieldhouse to gain a berth in tonight's East Coast Conference tournament championship game against Towson State.

When Rider beat Towson State by two points a little more than a week ago, it cost the Tigers a share of the East Coast Conference regular-season title, a perfect home season and probably any outside chance the team had of postseason play."

NEWARK, Del. -- Forward Mark Murray scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including two key baskets in the final two minutes, as Delaware (11-12, 6-4) defeated the University of Maryland Baltimore County (2-21, 1-8), 73-68, in an East Coast Conference game last night at Delaware Field House.CMurray broke a 66-66 tie with a three-point play with 1:43 left and added a basket inside with 20 seconds remaining to lead the Blue Hens to their fourth straight ECC win and third straight overall.

Baseball The Sporting News -- Cincinnati Reds GM Bob Quinn was named Major League Executive of the Year.College basketball ECC -- Named Towson State's Danielle Barry (9 ppg, 8 rpg in four games) Women's Rookie of the Week.College football Butkus Award -- Colorado's Alfred Williams (88 tackles, 12 1/2 sacks) was honored as the nation's top linebacker. Williams edged Illinois' Darrick Brownlow, 31-28, in points.ECC -- Named Towson State's Danielle Barry (9 ppg, 8 rpg in four games) Women's Rookie of the Week.

It ended with UMBC's Skip Saunders throwing up two prayers, both from three-point range, both of which went unanswered.It ended with Hofstra coach Butch van Breda Kolff watching from a hospitality room window, a floor above the action.It ended with the shriek of an official's whistle and a string of disqualifications as five players -- three from UMBC -- fouled out.In a game of diminishing returns, Hofstra outlasted UMBC, 77-74, yesterday at UMBC Fieldhouse to gain a berth in tonight's East Coast Conference tournament championship game against Towson State.

In the week leading up to the East Coast Conference tournament, Towson State coach Terry Truax kept saying that he'd prefer an opening-round game over a bye. It turns out that Truax got his wish -- and his Tigers still had what amounted to a bye.There's really no other way to explain Towson's record-setting, 122-58 win yesterday that ended a two-game losing streak and advanced the Tigers (15-13) to today's semifinals against Rider. Playing against an out manned Buffalo team in its first season of Division I, the Tigers scored the most points in school history -- and produced the widest margin of victory in an ECC tournament game.