Bobcats

Keith Donaldson scored just five points in yesterday's first-round Public League playoff game between the Franklin Learning Center and visiting Olney. But one of them came with two seconds to play as the Bobcats nipped Olney, 74-73, at the Cunningham Community Center. The victory sent the Bobcats into tomorrow's quarterfinal game against Parkway, which defeated Overbrook yesterday, 75-61. Donaldson scored the game-winning point after he was intentionally fouled by guard Bill Keene on a drive to the basket.

Virginia couldn't hit from the outside and couldn't play with Ohio University inside. "We were beaten in every facet of the game . . . we were manhandled in the paint," Virginia coach Jeff Jones said last night after the 14th-ranked Cavaliers lost to the visiting Bobcats, 94-83, in the second round of the Preseason NIT. Gary Trent led Ohio with 20 points and 13 rebounds. "We proved our team can come through strong," Trent said. The Bobcats (2-0) were on the verge of a rout, leading, 76-56, with 6:48 left, when Virginia (1-1)

Two days before he lost his job as coach of the Franklin Learning Center boys' basketball team, Pete Merlino said that if Wilson Washington played for the Bobcats, they'd be the best team in the city. Now Washington, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, is joining the team. A transfer from Edison, where he averaged 9.8 points and nine rebounds a game last season, Washington learned yesterday that he can play for FLC. A high honors student at FLC, Washington, along with his parents, had made an agreement with the school that he would not play basketball this season.

Not even the comfort of the Carrier Classic could save No. 12 Syracuse. In the first 22 years of its own tournament, Syracuse had never lost a first-round game - until last night. The Orangemen ran into Ohio University, and the Bobcats followed through on coach Larry Hunter's hunch and won a defensive struggle, 61-55. "They've been playing awfully well," Hunter said. "Maybe they were ripe for the picking. We're coming off a five-win season. I don't think they probably knew a whole lot about us, and they expect to win the first game of their tournament.

The Charlotte Bobcats are threating to steal the designation of "worst ever" held for nearly 40 years by the 76ers of 1972-73. John Wall had 16 points and 14 assists, Nene scored 18 points and Jan Vesely had 16 points on 8-for-8 shooting and the host Washington Wizards handed the Bobcats their 21st straight loss, 101-73 on Monday night. If Charlotte (7-57) loses its final two games, the Bobcats will finish with the worst winning percentage in NBA history at .106. The 76ers were 9-73 in 1973, or .109.

The fourth quarter usually lasts longer than any other quarter. With teams' foul totals building and coaches playing chess with each other in an attempt to win, the quarter can drag on and on. Last Tuesday at Franklin Learning Center's gym at the Cunningham Community Center in North Philadelphia, the fourth quarter seemed to last an eternity - an eternity of fouls, timeouts, controversy over timeouts and, between the delays, scintillating basketball....

It was one of the best games of the year for Frankford, coming in a season already filled with victories. In defeating Franklin Learning Center, 82-45, Tuesday afternoon in a Public League semifinal, the Pioneers showed they are ready for whatever they have to face in the season's final game. Sometimes, no matter how good a team is, it can look bad - or good - at the wrong time. But Frankford, according to coach Vince Miller, has just the right timing. "The last three games . . . have been the some of the best basketball we played this year," he said.

It had been a long time since the Frankford High boys' basketball team was involved in a close encounter. In fact, you had to go back to last season's Public League title game, in which the Pioneers recorded a heart-thumping, 71-64 quadruple-overtime victory over West Philadelphia, to find a contest where the Frankford players needed to break a sweat after intermission. In rolling to a 4-0 record against nonleague opposition this year, Frankford had averaged 86 points per game and won by an average margin of more than 36 points.

Chris Paul had 15 points and 15 assists, and visiting New Orleans won for the seventh time in eight games, 105-89 over trade-depleted Charlotte last night. David West and Peja Stojakovic each scored 17 points for New Orleans (12-6), which led by as many as 23 points in the second quarter and held a comfortable lead the rest of the way. Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 11 rebounds before all the starters left the game for the final period. Rookie D.J. Augustin scored a career-high 28 points to lead Charlotte, which took the floor with a depleted lineup shortly after a multiplayer trade that sent leading scorer Jason Richardson to Phoenix.

CHARLOTTE - Before last night's game against lowly Charlotte, 76ers coach Doug Collins tried to convince reporters that the Bobcats were a good team. He stated his case, backing it with the Bobcats recently holding a 16-point lead over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks (a game in which Dallas won) and that they had good players and scorers in D.J. Augustin and Gerald Henderson. Needless to say, Collins' points fell on deaf ears. How the heck can a team that had won just seven of their 43 games to that point in the season be anything but awful?

The Charlotte Bobcats couldn't even beat a new York Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the worst winning percentage in NBA history after a 104-84 loss at home on Thursday night. J.R. Smith scored 22 points for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half to clinch the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed and a first-round playoff matchup against No. 2 Miami beginning Saturday. Gerald Henderson had 21 points for the Bobcats, whose 23d consecutive loss left them with a winning percentage of .106 (7-59)

THE WORST season in NBA history is over for the Charlotte Bobcats. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are looking ahead to the playoffs. The Bobcats couldn't even beat a Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the lowest winning percentage in league history after a 104-84 loss Thursday. J.R. Smith scored 22 points for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half to clinch the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed and a first-round playoff matchup against No. 2 Miami beginning Saturday.

The Charlotte Bobcats are threating to steal the designation of "worst ever" held for nearly 40 years by the 76ers of 1972-73. John Wall had 16 points and 14 assists, Nene scored 18 points and Jan Vesely had 16 points on 8-for-8 shooting and the host Washington Wizards handed the Bobcats their 21st straight loss, 101-73 on Monday night. If Charlotte (7-57) loses its final two games, the Bobcats will finish with the worst winning percentage in NBA history at .106. The 76ers were 9-73 in 1973, or .109.

      Amare Stoudemire's return from a back injury didn't help the playoff-bound New York Knicks, who were stunned, 98-90, by the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday night. Stoudemire had missed New York's previous 13 games with a bulging disk. But even with him in the lineup, the Knicks couldn't handle the Cavs, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 19 games. The Knicks are a half-game ahead of the 76ers. Stoudemire finished with 15 points, and Carmelo Anthony had 12 before sitting out the fourth quarter.

Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points as the Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 118-110, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night to move one full game ahead of 76ers in the playoff picture.   Delonte gives an earful We all expected much from Delonte West after seeing him play alongside Jameer Nelson for St. Joe's back in the day and he has delivered - just not the way we anticipated. Now with the Dallas Mavericks, West has sparked a minor uproar by giving Utah Jazz swingman Gordon Hayward a wet willie during Monday night's game.

GREIVIS VASQUEZ scored 20 points and the visiting New Orleans Hornets handed the Charlotte Bobcats a franchise-record 17th straight loss, 75-67, on Monday night. The Hornets, playing without leading scorers Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman, won despite shooting just 34 percent from the floor in the second-lowest scoring NBA game this season. Gordon was given the night off to rest, but no reason was given before the game as to why Kaman was held out of action. Carl Landry added 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Hornets, who found out Monday that New Orleans will host the 2014 All-Star Game.

      Tim Duncan had 10 points and 16 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs won their ninth straight game, recovering to beat the Celtics, 87-86, in Boston on Wednesday night after blowing a 17-point, first-half lead. The loss kept the Celtics, who had won five straight, a game and a half ahead of the 76ers. Duncan also stopped Paul Pierce on the final play, forcing him into a fallaway jumper that bounced off the rim at the buzzer. Danny Green scored 14 points, and Gary Neal had 13, including a three-pointer with two minutes left that gave the Spurs the lead after Boston went on a 13-4 run to move in front.

ST. LOUIS - Awful all night, Harrison Barnes came through when North Carolina needed him most. Barnes scored five of his 12 points in overtime as the top-seeded Tar Heels escaped a huge upset with a 73-65 victory over 13th-seeded Ohio on Friday night in their Midwest Regional semifinal. Ohio, trying to become the first team seeded 13th or worse to make the regional finals since the tournament expanded in 1985, had a chance to convert a three-point play that would have given the Bobcats the lead with 25 seconds left in regulation.

North Carolina will have as many as four players selected in the next NBA draft. On Friday night, with one of those players - point guard Kendall Marshall - sitting on the bench with a fractured right wrist, the top-seeded Tar Heels were almost shown the door in the NCAA tournament. Ohio, a lowly 13 seed, thrived on its night in the spotlight and, with everyone in the Edward Jones Dome not wearing Carolina Blue cheering them on, forced the Tar Heels into overtime in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

OHIO IS happy to make room for anyone who wants to jump on the bandwagon. Just don't expect the Bobcats (29-7) to buy into that whole lovable underdog thing. Yes, they realize they're the 13th seed, the only "little guy" left in a tournament that now looks like a who's who of college basketball. They're well aware it would take them another century or two to match top-seeded North Carolina's tradition - they're in the regional semifinals for the second time, while the Tar Heels have lost count of how many times they've been here.