March 5, 2005

Rams headed to Kansas City

Mobile defeats Dillard for GCAC tournament title
Sunday, March 06, 2005
By TOMMY HICKS
Sports Reporter - Mobile Register

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The University of Mobile men used their deep bench and scoring from a couple of unexpected players to romp to an 89-71 win over Dillard University for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference tournament title Saturday at Tulane University's Fogelman Arena.

The win earned the No. 11 Rams (30-5) an automatic berth to the NAIA national tournament March 16-22 in Kansas City.

" We came out hitting shots, moving and playing defense," Mobile coach Joe Niland said. "We played pretty well early and we wanted to hold on to that lead. At halftime we talked about not letting them get within 10 (points of the lead in the second half)."

The victory also represented back-to-back tournament titles for the Rams, who beat SUNO in the GCAC championship game last season.

Dillard (15-14), which had knocked off South ern-New Orleans and No. 1-seed LSU-Shreveport, which shared the regular-season title with Mobile, got no closer than nine points in the second half.

After a slow start, the Rams built a 51-32 halftime lead by shooting 50 percent and hitting 11-of-14 free throws.

Six Rams scored at least 10 points. Leading the way were Steve Pellan and Ravi Amunugama, who each came off the bench to score a career-high 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Gabe Feagin scored 13 points, Gimel Lewis and Larry Burgess 12 each, and Tramaine Perry added 10. Lewis also collected 15 rebounds.

Tournament MVP Alfredo Ott scored 28 points for the Blue Devils, hitting 8-of-18 from the floor and 11-of-15 free throws. That gave him 80 points in three tournament games. Keydrick Williams added 16 points and Dwayne Bastian 13.

Niland collected his 30th win for the first time in 12 seasons as a head coach. " I didn't do it, the kids did it," he said. Niland is 4-1 in GCAC tournament championships games, winning two with Mobile and two with Spring Hill College.

Mobile now awaits the NAIA national tournament pairings on Wednesday.

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