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Hamer Hall history favors Vulcans

Brian Herman
| Friday, March 2, 2007 5:00 a.m.
California University men's basketball coach Bill Brown has to be hoping history repeats in this weekend's PSAC Final Four. Twice in the 11-year history under the current format, the tourney was held at Hamer Hall with the Vulcans winning both semifinals in 1996 and 2003. The event returns today to Hamer Hall with East champ Millersville (24-4) facing West runner-up Edinboro (19-9) at 5:30 p.m. followed by West titlist Cal (23-5) against East runnerup Cheyney (14-14) at 7:30 p.m. "We worked all year to get the home court advantage and we want to reap the benefits," said Brown. The Vulcans have won 14 of 15 home games this season, with the loss coming to Millersville in December. Although Cheyney has a .500 record and has already lost to Cal on its own floor in December, Brown isn't looking past the Wolves. "They're really athletic, big and one of the better 3-point shooting teams in the conference," he said. Eight of the team's losses have come by six or fewer points, including an 83-81 overtime defeat at Millersville last week. Cheyney's size comes from 6-10, 240-pound sophomore Robert Simpson, 6-8, 240-pound sophomore Anthony Shelton and 6-6, 205-pound junior Dawud Morris. Simpson is coming off a season-best 26 point performance in an impressive 79-63 upset win at Kutztown in the quarterfinals. Ed Braswell, a 6-0 junior, is Cheyney's top scorer with a 15 point average and has put in 54 treys. Michael Fryer, a 6-4 senior, follows with 27 3's and a 12-point average. Morris and Dominique Curry, a 6-4 sophomore who was also one of the PSAC's top wide receivers, both score 11 points a game. "They have a balanced team," added Brown. "The key is which team plays the best defense for 40 minutes. It will be a very physical game." In the game at Cheyney, Cal posted a 69-61 victory winning by converting 22 of 31 free throws compared to eight of 11 for the hosts. Starting in place of Kelvin Green, Ron Banks had a team-high 18 points for the Vulcans followed by John Owens and Osborne Gardner with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Fryer and Braswell were high for the Wolves with 20 and 15 points, respectively. Banks will be starting again tonight since Green, a Seventh Day Adventist, doesn't play from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. Green is the Vulcans' No. 3 scorer with a nine point average. "I learned a long time ago you can't take anything for granted," said Brown. "Any of the four teams can win the tourney." Edinboro is going after its third straight PSAC title and fourth in the last nine years. The Scots, however, will be the under-dog after losing on their own floor to Millersville, 82-78. Charlie Parker (20) and Greg Testa (19) combined for 39 points for the Marauders with Daren Tielsch scoring 21 for Edinboro. LEFTOVERS: Brown is 10-6 in the PSAC playoffs ... Cal is on a five-game winning streak and has won 11 in a row at home ... Saturday's championship game will start at 7 p.m. with the winner getting an automatic bid to next weekend's NCAA East Regional.


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