Pickle Classic preview: Coker College

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on November 15, 2006 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

At last year's Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Coker College connected on 30 three-point field goals in two tournament games. Head coach Dan Schmotzer hopes his team hasn't cooled off entering the 2006-07 season.

Coker makes its fifth Pickle Classic appearance as the Cobras take on Chowan Friday at 6 p.m. in the opening game of the 41st Annual Pickle Classic at Kornegay Arena. Mount Olive faces Ohio Valley in the nightcap at 8 p.m.

The consolation game is slated for Saturday at 4:30 p.m., followed by the championship game at 6:30 p.m.

Coker posted a 7-21 record last season and finished ninth in the CVAC with a 5-15 mark. The Cobras, which lost to Erskine in their regular season finale, defeated the Flying Fleet 59-56 two nights later in the first round of the CVAC Tournament.

In that game, more than 75 percent of the Cobras' points came from beyond the arc. Coker was 15-for-30 from three-point range.

The win advanced Coker to the quarterfinal round against top-seeded and nationally 12th-ranked Barton. During the regular season, Coker fell by scores of 78-42 and 81-60. But there's a reason they call tournament time March Madness.

Coker hit 15-of-29 three-pointers and rallied from a nine-point deficit to take a one-point lead with just over three minutes left in the game. But Barton regained the lead and a three-point attempt at the buzzer missed the mark as Coker fell 75-72.

The Cobras are led by seniors Jason Fullwood and Abram Ludd. Fullwood posted the sixth-highest three-point field goal percentage in the nation last year. Coker tips off its 2006-07 season tonight at Francis Marion.

The Cobras last played in the Pickle Classic in 2002. Coker is second to Barton among four-year colleges in Pickle Classic appearances.