Basketball moves into post-season play

The Norwich University men's basketball team hosted a "white out" event on Feb. 9. The crowd was flooded with fans dressed in white as they cheered on the Cadets to victory.

The men's basketball team played the Suffolk University Rams. After a closely contested first half, Norwich began the second half on fire, outscoring Suffolk 9-2 over the first 4:28 to grab a 39-36 lead. Norwich trailed 59-58 with four seconds to play, but Suffolk missed the front end of a one-on-one, and the Cadets rebounded the miss, calling timeout with 1.9 seconds left.

Quincy Williams, who was being heavily pressured along the right sideline, lofted a pass nearly 65 feet to Cori Boston, who maneuvered between two defenders to make an athletic catch underneath the basket. Then Boston turned and laid the ball in just before the buzzer sounded. The Cadets won 60-59.                                

As of press time, the Cadets were in sixth place in the Greater Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

"I feel positive about the post season. We have been working hard all season and we've seen every team in our conference twice, so it's no reason why we can't be successful," said Cori Boston, 26, a junior communications major from Boston, Mass.

 "Of course we are positive. We go into every game believing that we can win; there is no doubt in our minds that we can't win the GNAC tournament," said Jaren Jeffcoat, 22, a junior communications major from Dallas, Texas.

 "Coming off that big win against Suffolk really showed us how we can never quit and how we must stay close as a team," Boston said.

James Norman, 19, a freshman communications major from Melbourne, Fla. said, "We have started to come together as a team.  It seems as though we are peaking and that's a good sign going into the post season."

"It's always good to peak going into the post season because you want to be at your best, and that's what we're trying to do," Jeffcoat said.

"Everyone on our team knows what we are capable of doing; it's just a matter of us going out and doing it," said Quincy Williams, 22, a junior computer science major from St. Louis, Mo.

"We can't back into the playoffs at all: we have to finish strong in order to be successful," said Ryan Williams, 19, a freshman communication major from Dallas, Texas.

 "Teams aren't expecting much from us, we are going to prove it in the playoffs," Williams said.

"Other teams probably don't believe that we are a strong resilient team but we are.  We always try to bounce back after a tough loss, and we like to string all of our wins together in groups. We are a group of determined fighters," Boston said.

Darell Marshall, 20, a sports medicine major from Dallas, Texas, said, "We are so focused on finishing the season strong.  No one is going to stand in our way; we understand that we need the momentum for the playoffs."

"Even though the post season is up-and-coming, we still are trying to take each game one at a time.  We know what our goals are and what we have to do," Boston said.

The Cadets are extremely positive about the post season and look to go far in the GNAC tournament and hopefully receive a bid to the NCAA's.