By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (10) conjuring up magic (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Winning the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship requires hustle and bustle. It requires the touch of a poet and the toughness of a prize fighter. The tournament matches its home. Asheville may have more automobiles papered with bumper …
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Some kind of SoCon shootout
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The basketball teams I follow can play with anybody, and anybody can play with them. Man, oh, man, did Furman and Samford ever play with each other. Don’t take that the wrong way. The shooting was out of Pleasantville. The plot was out of …
Blue Hose turn some Big South tables
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – On Saturday morning, too early, I turned on the TV in my room and East Tennessee PBS was raising money by showing a cavalcade of disco hits. I was so happy I enjoyed it. For the first time in a decade Presbyterian College won a …
I barely know where I am, but I know the way
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. This morning brings confusion, upon awakening, over where I am. I’m in Johnson City, Tenn., writing about Asheville, N.C. I really wish I were still in Asheville, where in a little over an hour, the Furman University women’s basketball team – which is seeded higher than the …
Continue reading I barely know where I am, but I know the way
If only Aminata Tal was tall
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – A lot goes on at a college basketball tournament. This one in the Big South Conference is just getting started. The games on Wednesday matched the worst teams: eighth-best versus ninth. Winning it from here is similar to plowing a field that happens to be …
To dream impossible dreams
By MONTE DUTTON (PC photo) Please release me. Let me go. I’ll catch up with the county when I get back from the mountains. Maybe nighttime baseball won’t be cold by then. I spent Tuesday packing, leaving some stuff at the storage unit and bringing some back to the camper-trailer, which, no, I’m not towing …
Now for something different
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. What’s that commercial? Head for the mountains! I spent Tuesday packing, leaving some stuff at the storage unit and bringing some back to the camper-trailer, which, no, I’m not towing to the mountains. I’ll be in cheap motel rooms. I won’t be doing anything there but sleep. Once I was …
In my element
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. On Sunday night, I watched a healthy portion of Believers: Boston Red Sox, a documentary that centers on the 2004 World Series. At the same time, I was switching to a basketball game between Charleston and UNC Wilmington. The Cougars came from 15 points behind and won. I watched Miami …
Hose have hope for Johnson City
By MONTE DUTTON Jonah Pierce had 20 points and 10 rebounds (Monte Dutton photo). Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve. Presbyterian (14-17, 7-9 Big South) outshot the Eagles (.463-.368) and outrebounded them (39-36). Presbyterian went cold down the stretch and fell, 74-70, to Winthrop (21-10, 13-3) in the final regular-season men’s basketball game on Saturday at Winthrop Coliseum. …
Cats claw Paladins on boards, 86-67
By MONTE DUTTON Eddrin Bronson led Furman with 16 points (Furman photo). Click here. Cullowhee was awful on Saturday. Instead of rounding into shape for the Ingles SoCon Men’s Basketball Champions, Furman fell into a latter-half trap that was unexpected but common of the regular season’s final day. Four of the top seven schools lost, …
Nightrider's Lament 