Colleges

Basketball coach hits milestone

By DAVID NORRIE
Published December 13, 2005

Richard Schmidt became the seventh men's basketball coach in Division II and 116th in NCAA history with 500 wins with Friday's 67-58 victory against Eckerd 67-58.

The win, in the teams' Sunshine State Conference opener, might signify the Spartans' return to the elite. Eckerd, coming off a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, had won seven of the past eight in the series, including three by an average of 29 points in 2002-03.

Tampa has not finished better than fourth in the SSC since 2001-02, when it was first at 13-1. But Schmidt, in his 23rd season, said he is optimistic.

"These guys can't compare to (the 2002 team) yet, but I think we definitely have the potential to be the best we have been since then," Schmidt said. "We've added a couple of players that can really help us, but we'll need to stay healthy and have our bench players contribute."

Chris Evans , a 6-foot-7, 225-pound sophomore forward, has shined. Last season, the Middleton High graduate was among the league's top five in rebounds (third at 7.2 per game), field-goal percentage (fourth at .531) and blocked shots (fourth at 31) and was named to the SSC's all-freshman team.

Friday, he led all scorers with 30 points and added 12 rebounds. During a nine-minute stretch in the second half, Evans scored 15 consecutive points for Tampa, and Monday, he was named the conference's player of the week.

Evans' emergence is expected to take pressure off of point guard Mark Borders , a Street & Smith's preseason All-American and Tampa's go-to guy for the past two seasons. He led Tampa in scoring last season (13.7 per game) but has no problem sharing the ball. In fact, it's what he does best. His 213 assists last season led the SSC and set a school record.

He had nine more Friday, putting him 80 shy of the school's career record held by Kevin Starnes (1987-91).

"The team is ready to do whatever it takes to win," Borders said. "We have five seniors coming back besides myself. When you have sophomores like (Evans) and Jeremy Black who share that will to win, it's not hard to find somebody to step up each night.

Tampa (6-1, 1-0) begins a five-game nonconference home stand Saturday against Mount Vernon Nazarene.

WOMEN'S SOCCER: Coach Bobby Johnston was named South Region coach of the year Monday, marking a first for the program. Johnston, in his fourth season, led the Spartans (14-2-2) to their first regular-season SSC title and third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

At 7-0-1, the Spartans matched a school record for league wins, and it was their first unbeaten SSC season. Shannon Aitken , Maria Mohammed , Samantha Robinson and Malana Winskas were named to the all-region team.

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 01:31:15]