Van Hook

Lake Clifton's Ronald Van Hook and Cornell Ward haven't seen much playing time most of this season, but yesterday they provided the spark for the No. 3 Lakers as they defeated host and No. 12 Loyola, 71-55, in a Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Division II game.Van Hook, starting for the first time this season, was the offensive catalyst, scoring a game-high 22 points. Ward, a 6-foot-6 freshman, came off the bench and dominated on the defensive end, blocking eight shots in the second half.

Even when a team's record is 4-23, something about Senior Night seems to inspire those being honored. That was the case at Hill Field House last night, as Morgan State seniors Jimmy Fields and Ronnie Van Hook were important cogs in the Bears' late-blooming offense. The two were part of a three-man show by local high school graduates, Fields from Gilman and Van Hook from Lake Clifton, plus 6-foot-7 sophomore Brandon Reece from St. Frances. Each scored 20 points, as the Bears (5-23, 5-13)

Even when a team's record is 4-23, something about Senior Night seems to inspire those being honored. That was the case at Hill Field House last night, as Morgan State seniors Jimmy Fields and Ronnie Van Hook were important cogs in the Bears' late-blooming offense. The two were part of a three-man show by local high school graduates, Fields from Gilman and Van Hook from Lake Clifton, plus 6-foot-7 sophomore Brandon Reece from St. Frances. Each scored 20 points, as the Bears (5-23, 5-13)

Morgan State lost to Bethune-Cookman last night, 69-64, its late rally not enough to overcome a poor start in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference basketball game. Freddie Cole scored 18 points for the Wildcats (11-11, 10-3), who picked up their fifth win in the past six contests and remained in second place in the conference. For Morgan State (4-19, 4-9), not much was different from any other night except the absence of Jimmy Fields and Ronnie Van Hook, ejected along with Bethune's Larry Gilbert after a first-half scuffle.

Morgan State completed its regular season yesterday with a 79-73 triumph over UMES in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest at Baltimore City Community College.The game proved to be a pre- lude to this week's conference tournament at the Richmond Coliseum, as Morgan State will play RTC the Hawks (9-17, 7-11) in a quarterfinal contest at 3 p.m. Thursday.Morgan State (11-15, 11-7), picked to finished seventh in the preseason, finished third in the MEAC and will be the No. 3 seed. The Bears completed a season sweep of the Hawks, who will be seeded sixth.

No. 4 Southern bounced back from its loss to Annapolis Saturday to down No. 2 Lake Clifton, 75-57, yesterday and capture first place in the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Division II.Southern (14-5, 9-1) will meet Walbrook, the Division II second-place team, in the conference semifinals Feb. 26 at Morgan State.A victory would put the defending champion Bulldogs in the conference championship game in the Metro Classic March 3 at the Baltimore Arena.Lake Clifton is not out of the playoff picture.

In a battle between two guard-oriented teams looking for a playoff berth No. 4 Lake Clifton pulled away from No. 8 Cardinal Gibbons in the fourth quarter and posted a 77-63 victory to win second place in the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Division II.The Lakers (14-4, 8-2) advance to Tuesday's conference semifinals at Morgan State, where they will take on top-ranked Dunbar at 6 or 8 p.m. Southern and Mount St. Joseph meet at Morgan in the other semifinal.The winners will meet for the championship in the Metro Classic on March 3 at the Baltimore Arena at 7 p.m.Senior point guard Curtis Shepherd led the Lakers with 17 points, 13 assists and three steals.

No. 3 Lake Clifton added another chapter to its storybook season yesterday, turning back No. 8 Walbrook, 74-69, in a non-division matchup of Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference contenders at Lake Clifton.Lake Clifton's three starting guards -- Ronnie Van Hook, Curtis Shepherd and Kevin Norris -- combined for 53 points to lead the Lakers (12-2).Van Hook led the trio with 21, Norris had 18 and Shepherd had 14 and seven assists.Junior forward Jermaine Porter came off the bench to lead Walbrook (9-5)

It wasn't a picturesque game by any means, but Morgan State will take it, however it looked.In a battle of attrition at Baltimore City Community College last night, the Bears rallied in the second half and outlasted Delaware State, 80-68, before 500 fans.The victory pulled Morgan (3-11, 3-3) even in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference after a one-sided loss Saturday to Coppin ,, State at the Bears' "home away from home" while Hill Field House is being renovated."We extended the defense and tried to turn it into a 94-foot game," said Bears coach Chris Fuller, whose team launched a 14-2 run after trailing 41-37 early in the second half.

Lake Clifton forced a tie with Cardinal Gibbons for second place in Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Division II by edging the host Crusaders, 68-66, on Roger Battle's jump shot with three seconds to play yesterday.Battle's game-winner came after Gibbons (11-7, 4-1), which trailed, 60-49, with 5 minutes, 5 seconds left, rallied to tie at 66 on Eugene Marshall's steal and driving layup with 2:07 to go.No. 3 Lake Clifton (9-2, 4-1) then ran a high-post delay until coach Charlie Moore called a timeout with 15 seconds left.

In better times, Morgan State coach Chris Fuller might be able to laugh at his team's 6-for-26 shooting from three-point range, or at Norfolk State's 14 steals, 37 trips to the free-throw line and 63 percent second-half shooting. For now, however, the foibles constitute the price of progress for the youthful Bears team, which dropped to 2-13 and 2-3 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference yesterday with a 78-70 loss to the Spartans at Hill Field House. "We are playing a lot of people who didn't play a lot last year," Fuller said.

LOS ANGELES -- It had the potential to be ugly from the start but even this was far worse than anything coach Chris Fuller and his Morgan State squad could have imagined.No. 12-ranked UCLA dropped the bomb on the visiting Bears en route to a 100-39 victory in front of 6,531 fans at Pauley Pavilion last night."This one got away from us," Fuller said. "They beat the [heck] out of us."Morgan State (0-4) beat itself too, by committing 28 turnovers and grabbing zero offensive rebounds in the first half.

Jimmy Fields scored 22 points to help Morgan State turn away Delaware State, 81-75, last night at Hill Field House.With the win, the Bears (13-12, 12-5) kept within a game of second-place Coppin State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with an opportunity to pass the Eagles when they meet Thursday night at Hill Field House.The win also put Morgan above the .500 mark in February for the first time since 1989. For those scoring at home, the Bears haven't been two games above .500 since 1979.

Morgan State completed its regular season yesterday with a 79-73 triumph over UMES in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest at Baltimore City Community College.The game proved to be a pre- lude to this week's conference tournament at the Richmond Coliseum, as Morgan State will play RTC the Hawks (9-17, 7-11) in a quarterfinal contest at 3 p.m. Thursday.Morgan State (11-15, 11-7), picked to finished seventh in the preseason, finished third in the MEAC and will be the No. 3 seed. The Bears completed a season sweep of the Hawks, who will be seeded sixth.

It wasn't a picturesque game by any means, but Morgan State will take it, however it looked.In a battle of attrition at Baltimore City Community College last night, the Bears rallied in the second half and outlasted Delaware State, 80-68, before 500 fans.The victory pulled Morgan (3-11, 3-3) even in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference after a one-sided loss Saturday to Coppin ,, State at the Bears' "home away from home" while Hill Field House is being renovated."We extended the defense and tried to turn it into a 94-foot game," said Bears coach Chris Fuller, whose team launched a 14-2 run after trailing 41-37 early in the second half.

Coming off its emotionally charged near-upset of Michigan last week, it was natural to expect Towson University's basketball team to experience a letdown against Morgan State last night.But no one could anticipate how the Tigers would have to struggle before putting away the winless Bears, 62-48, at the Towson Center.Towson (2-1) displayed little of the crispness or cohesiveness on offense it exhibited against the Wolverines while being harassed into 29 turnovers by the Bears' scrambling defense.

After his team lost its season opener to Iona last night, Morgan State coach Chris Fuller was disappointed with the final score but pleased with what he saw."A couple of seasons ago, we couldn't compete with a team of this caliber," he said. "We should have won this game tonight."Playing against the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season champions, Morgan State gave Iona all it could handle, losing in overtime, 95-92, before a capacity crowd of 1,000 at Baltimore City Community College.

Morgan State lost to Bethune-Cookman last night, 69-64, its late rally not enough to overcome a poor start in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference basketball game. Freddie Cole scored 18 points for the Wildcats (11-11, 10-3), who picked up their fifth win in the past six contests and remained in second place in the conference. For Morgan State (4-19, 4-9), not much was different from any other night except the absence of Jimmy Fields and Ronnie Van Hook, ejected along with Bethune's Larry Gilbert after a first-half scuffle.

After his team lost its season opener to Iona last night, Morgan State coach Chris Fuller was disappointed with the final score but pleased with what he saw."A couple of seasons ago, we couldn't compete with a team of this caliber," he said. "We should have won this game tonight."Playing against the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season champions, Morgan State gave Iona all it could handle, losing in overtime, 95-92, before a capacity crowd of 1,000 at Baltimore City Community College.

The state prosecutor yesterday charged Delegate Tony E. Fulton, a Baltimore Democrat, with illegally using state money to pay rent and salaries for his 1990 re-election campaign, pocketing $3,000 from his campaign treasury and violating campaign finance laws.Dolores Ridgell, the assistant state prosecutor in charge of the case, said Mr. Fulton's attorney accepted a criminal summons yesterday ordering his client to appear for arraignment Nov. 18. Neither the legislator nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.