Van Hook

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.

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.

Southern freshman point guard Damon Cason and Dunbar junior center Donta Bright each came off the bench to spark their teams to victories in last night's Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference semifinals at Morgan State.Bright, who was not in the starting lineup because he broke a minor team rule, entered the game late in the first quarter and scored a season-high 34 points to lead the Poets to an 81-69 win over Lake Clifton.Cason, who has spent most of this season as an understudy to his older brother David, stepped to the forefront yesterday with 17 points and 15 assists to lead Southern to a 64-49 victory over Mount St. Joseph (21-11)

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.

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.

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.

The greatest shake-up in Baltimore's school board in seven years will take place next week when four new members are sworn in. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Mayor Martin O'Malley announced yesterday the joint appointment of George VanHook, Jerrelle Francois, Douglas R. Kington and James W. Campbell. The turnover of nearly half of the nine-member board was not the result of pressure to get rid of the existing school board after the system's financial troubles, but merely coincidence. Two departing board members, Ralph S. Tyler and Sam Stringfield, have taken new jobs that preclude them from continuing on the board.

Top-ranked Dunbar built a 21-point lead after three quarters, then survived a fourth-quarter rally by No. 3 Lake Clifton to post a 83-68 victory before a sellout crowd of 6,700 last night at Morgan State University.The Poets (21-1) shot poorly, but had little trouble with the Lakers until the final period. The Lakers had trouble shooting through the first three quarters and turned the ball over 12 times.But the Lakers began to click in the fourth quarter. Lake Clifton outscored the Poets, 30-18, to cut the Dunbar lead to 77-68 with 42 seconds left.

On Tuesday, January 6, 2004, MARGUERITE R. DONOVAN, age 62, of Avondale, PA, formerly of West Grove, PA, passed away at Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA. She was the wife of Charles J. Donovan, Sr. with whom she shared 43 years of marriage. Born in Darby, PA, she was the daughter of Marguerite Hines Welsh and the late Robert Welsh. A devoted wife and mother, she loved spending time with her family and grandchildren. She was an avid sports fan and enjoyed watching all sports. In addition to her husband and mother, she is survived by four sons, Charles J. Donovan, Jr. and his wife Lisa of West Grove, PA, Daniel J. Donovan and his wife Diane of Newark, DE, Donald Donovan and his wife Sonja of Lincoln University, PA, Dennis Donovan of Pasadena, MD; one daughter Maureen R. Stagliano and her husband John, Jr. of Reading, PA; two sisters Connie Van Hook of Arizona and Barbara Phillips of Aston, PA; seven grandchildren, John Stagliano, III, Kaitlyn Stagliano, Nicole Stagliano, Charles J. Donovan, III, Christopher Donovan, Gabrielle Donovan and Isabella Donovan.