The Morning Dish – Wednesday, August 11th
Salukis Suspended: Southern Illinois University has suspended two basketball players for their role in an off-campus melee in Carbondale on July 17th. Senior guard Stetson Hairston has been suspended indefinitely by new head coach Chris Lowery, and sophomore guard Michael Dale was suspended for three games after both were charged with felony trespassing, mob action, and misdemeanor battery. The two were charged last week, and told police that they had been attacked at the Lewis Park apartment complex and that they had returned to the scene, where a fistfight broke out. Hairston, a fifth-year guard from Fairview Heights, Illinois, was the Salukis’ third-leading scorer last season, averaging 9.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Dale, a sophomore guard from Belleville, Illinois, sat out his freshman year to work on his grades, has yet to play for SIU. The two will be in court August 18th.
Baxter Going Pro: The football experiment by former South Florida guard Jimmy Baxter has come to a close. Baxter, who was trying out for the Bulls at wide receiver, decided that he would pursue professional opportunities, as a football scholarship was not forthcoming from coach Jim Leavitt for another week. Baxter, who was to sign a professional basketball contract by today, was weighing offers from a professional league in Columbia, as well as NBDL and CBA offers. Baxter averaged 9.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12 games last season for the Bulls.
Two New Mountaineers: Appalachian State head coach Houston Fancher has announced two new assistant coaches to his Mountaineer coaching staff. Tony Pujol and Ahmad Smith have joined ASU as assistants, and former assistant Matt McMahon was promoted to associate head coach. McMahon, an Appalachian State alum, is entering his fifth season on the Mountaineer sidelines after playing for the school for four seasons. Pujol was most recently a high school coach in South Florida, having coaching Northwest Christian Academy and La Progresiva Presbyterian School (both in Miami) and led his teams to five Florida final four appearances, three titles, and three state coach of the year awards. He is a graduate of Sterling College (Sterling, Kansas), where he was a multi-sport letterwinner in the 80’s. Smith joins the coaching staff after completing two seasons as a Mountaineer player, following two seasons at Cedar Valley JC (Lancaster, Texas), where he won a D-III national championship and averaged 17 points per game as a D-III All-American. It is Smith’s first foray into coaching.
Counting Down: Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the shot clock. In Syracuse, New York, NBA Hall-of-Famer Dolph Schayes and the rest of his Syracuse Nationals NBA squad scrimmaged in front of several NBA owners, including Red Auerbach, as they watched the pace of play pick up with the new invention. The NBA, which was still fledgling at the time, saw average scores increase by 14 points per team per game, and dreadful “stall” tactics go out the window. While it has been used in the NBA for 50 years, the clock didn’t see the NCAA until the 1986 season, and it was then a 45-second clock. The current 35-second shot clock was adopted by the NCAA in 1994.
