Radford

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- When the seniors on the Radford University basketball team were freshmen, Chibi Johnson and Corey Reed had dreams similar to the ones held by Division I players all over the country."

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Hold the fan buses, the band and the dance group right where they are on the UMBC campus.There will be no need for a trip to Liberty University today to watch UMBC play in the championship game of the Big South tournament.The UMBC basketball youth movement isn't ready to flirt seriously with a cherished berth in the NCAA tournament's 64-team field.The young Retrievers found out just where they stood last night when a senior-dominated Radford team took them to school with an impressive 88-69 victory in the Big South semifinals.

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Thanks to wise old veteran center Eric Poiesz, a young and flashy UMBC team is headed to the Big South tournament semifinals tomorrow night against Radford.The 6-foot-10, 240-pound senior, just 16 days shy of his 24th birthday, was easily the oldest player on the court last night for the Retrievers, but he quickly established a strong inside presence against Winthrop, and UMBC went on to an easy 67-55 victory in the opening round of the tournament at Liberty University.Third seed UMBC will meet second seed Radford tomorrow night at 8 in the semis.

Site: Vines Center, Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va.MenToday's first round(1) UNC-Asheville (11-1, 18-8) has a bye(2) Radford (10-2, 17-9) vs. (7) Charleston Southern (2-10, 5-21), 2 p.m.(3) UMBC (6-6, 13-13) vs. (6) Winthrop (4-8, 7-19), 6: 30 p.m.(4) Liberty (5-7, 10-16) vs. (5) Coastal Carolina (4-8, 8-18), 8: 30 p.m.Friday's semifinalsUNC-Asheville vs. Liberty/Coastal Carolina winner, 6 p.m.Radford/Charleston Sou. winner vs. UMBC/Winthrop winner, 8 p.m.Saturday's championship gameSemifinal winners, 2 p.m.Local hopes: UMBC has a new-look bigger lineup entering the tournament, with 6-foot-10, 240-pound senior center Eric Poiesz moving into a starting spot in place of players such as 6-4 forward Brad Martin and 6-0 guard Tim Hyland, who were starters earlier in the season.

On a night when basketball fever returned to UMBC in full force, a well-drilled and experienced Radford University team ruined the fun with a come-from-behind 73-68 victory over the Retrievers in a showdown for second place in the Big South Conference.UMBC (10-9, 4-4) entered the game on an 8-3 roll and had charged into third place in the Big South, one-half game behind second-place Radford (11-9, 5-2), and there was talk about the youthful Retrievers making a late-season charge that might carry them through the league's postseason tournament into the NCAA tourney.

There are still some defensive flaws and the intensity tends to wane at times for the young UMBC basketball team.But the freshman-dominated Retrievers appear to be peaking for a strong stretch run in the Big South that will take them on a roll into the crucial conference tournament Feb. 25-28 in Lynchburg, Va.Yesterday, UMBC basically toyed with an overmatched Winthrop University squad on the way to a 73-51 victory in a Big South encounter at UMBC Fieldhouse.It...

Matt Acres scored 19 points and had 10 rebounds to lead New Hampshire to a 64-56 America East win last night over Towson University at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H.The Wildcats (7-7, 3-3) never trailed and led by as many as 19 points after Acres scored inside with 6: 58 left to play. New Hampshire made just one field goal, however, over the next 4: 22, and the Tigers (2-9, 0-4) used a 14-3 run to close to within 55-47.Andy Cavo's 15 points helped the Wildcats to a 38-24 lead after a first half of spurts.

There's a special wall in the hallway just outside the gym at North County High. On it are banners of state title teams, as well as photographs of the individual winners from the various sports.Wrestling coach Larry Radford made a point of taking his two-year captain, senior WT Aye, on a quick visit to the wall one day before this season started."He said, 'You see anything wrong with this wall?' " Aye recalled. "I said, 'Yeah, I'm not up there.' For him to do that really meant a lot to me. It makes me want to do that much better and work that much harder."

Second-ranked Virginia got four goals each from Doug Knight, Mark Murphy and David Bruce in blasting VMI, 31-4, yesterday in men's lacrosse in Lexington, Va. It was the Cavaliers' fifth straight win.The Cavaliers (6-2) raced to a 17-1 lead in the second period and held the Keydets (1-6) scoreless until 2: 46 of the fourth quarter. A year ago, Virginia beat VMI, 38-5.Maryland 21, Radford 2: Bob Hanna and James Mollica each got his first career hat trick as fourth-ranked Maryland (5-2) crushed Radford at Byrd Stadium.

Ginette Chelius' goal with six minutes remaining gave the top-ranked Maryland women's lacrosse team a 6-5 win over No. 2 Virginia yesterday at Charlottesville.Virginia led 4-3 at halftime, and 5-4 with 14 minutes remaining, but the Terrapins notched three of the four second-half goals to improve their record to 4-0.Sarah Forbes and Chelius, who each scored twice, tallied the last two goals of the game to drop Virginia to 4-1.Following a shooting space violation, the Cavaliers had a chance to tie the game with 40 seconds remaining on a free position shot on goal, but Alex Kahoe made one of her 10 saves to preserve the win.Virginia goaltender Heather Castle made five saves.