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By ROD GIPSON
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 9, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- It took Kentucky State almost 30 years to make it to the NCAA Tournament. It took Tampa 40 minutes to send the Thorobreds home.
Actually, it took less time than that. Behind solid shooting in the first half and aggressive rebounding and defense in the second, the Spartans turned back Kentucky State 83-68 in the opening round of the Division II South Region tournament.
Tampa (22-6) faces Eckerd in the second round at 8 tonight.
Playing in its first NCAA Tournament since 1973, the sixth-seeded Thorobreds (16-13) fell to a Spartans team that outrebounded, outshot and outhustled them. UT opened with a 14-3 run and pushed its advantage to at least 13 points three times.
Juniors Slyvere Bryan and Gecarri Freeman led a balanced scoring attack. Bryan had 19 points 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. Freeman had 18 points.
"This was a tough ballgame," UT coach Richard Schmidt said. "We're pleased to get a victory. They do a lot of things we haven't seen and that threw us off. I'm proud of the way we hung in there."
After cruising to a nine-point lead at the half, the Spartans clung to a 63-60 advantage after theThorobreds put together a 16-6 run midway through the half.
But UT was able to turn back the Kentucky State threat. And after six straight points from Bryan and a layup from Chuckie Powell, Tampa was up 73-65.
"A lot of praise has to go to Tampa," Kentucky State coach Winston Bennett said. "They got it in to their big man Bryan and he is the type of player that makes your offense pretty effective."
Michael Dupree led Kentucky State with 15 points and Jonathan Johnson added 13 points.
In the first game, Niki Arinze and Brian Woodland combined for 44 points to lead Henderson State to a 68-57 victory against West Georgia.
Henderson State, trailing 30-28 at the half, broke open the close game with the outside shooting of Woodland, who had 13 of his 23 points in the second half. Henderson State (21-9) faces top-seeded Florida Southern at 6 tonight. West Georgia finished at 21-8.