Catamounts

When Drexel forward Mike Kouser hit a three-point jumper from 26 feet yesterday during the second half against visiting Vermont, Dragons coach Steve Seymour was standing close enough to touch the senior. "You better had made that," Seymour told Kouser with a knowing look as the player turned to head down the court. Kouser just turned back toward his coach and shrugged as if to say, "What did I do?" All was well with Drexel, however, at that point. Less than 15 minutes remained, and the Dragons were well on their way to a 99-75 America East victory in front of 1,256 fans at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Some guys make a career of beating certain teams or, at the very least, making life miserable for them. Take Vermont's Eddie Benton. His 54 points against Drexel last season were an all-time record in the North Atlantic Conference while his career average against the Dragons is 33 points a showing. Forget that Drexel has the best defense around, holding opponents to an average of 63 points a game on 39 percent shooting from the field. None of that applies to Benton.

Vermont, the defending women's basketball champion in the North Atlantic Conference, is no longer the invincible juggernaut that went unbeaten in the last two regular seasons. Still, Drexel shot only 27.2 percent at the Physical Education Athletic Center yesterday, ruining any chance of an upset and enabling the visiting Catamounts to leave with a 64-47 victory. Vermont (10-7 overall, 4-2 league) was not much better from the floor than Drexel (4-12, 1-5), managing only a 35 percent effort.

You could see it coming. Last month, Drexel barely got by visiting Vermont thanks to the long-range shooting of Mike DeRocckis. Yesterday, Vermont got revenge as freshman Tony Orciari scored nine of his team's last 11 points to give the Catamounts a 70-67 win over Drexel. The victory, Vermont's second straight at home, broke two school records for the 16-9 Catamounts. The win gave Vermont 15 Division I wins, a new school single-season record, and gave the Cats an 11-6 mark in the America East Conference, the first time Vermont has won more than 10 conference games.

Villanova coach Rollie Massimino graduated from the University of Vermont in 1956. Vermont coach Tom Brennan graduated from the Rollie Massimino school for assistant coaches in 1975. Perhaps the 'Nova players wish Massimino had graduated from, say, the University of Miami, where yesterday it was 81 degrees and sunny, instead of Vermont, where it was 19 and snowing when they got off the plane. Anyway, Massimino holds great affection for his alma mater, and he enjoys helping out old friends such as Brennan, so tonight at 7:30, Villanova will fill 3,200-seat Patrick Gymasium for a game with Vermont.

The University of Vermont softball team announced yesterday that Laura Stagliano of Eastern would join the Catamounts starting next season. "We are thrilled that Laura has decided to continue her softball career at UVM," said coach Marcie Hickey. "She is a focused athlete who excels both in the classroom and on the field. Her arm strength and speed will make an immediate impact in the outfield for us in her first season. " As a junior at Eastern, Stagliano batted leadoff.

Defense, particularly the effort by Chaz Crawford, made the difference as Drexel defeated Vermont, 59-46, in a nonleague basketball game yesterday at Patrick Gymnasium. Crawford blocked eight shots, grabbed seven rebounds, and stole the ball five times as the Dragons (2-0) forced 20 turnovers and held the Catamounts (2-2) to less than 25 percent shooting from the floor. "Chaz played a great game on the defensive end," Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said. "He challenged every shot and did a good job on the boards.

Held scoreless for 24 minutes, Vermont freshman Tony Orciari shot down Drexel with a late 19-point outburst that carried the Catamounts to a 70-67 America East victory yesterday at Patrick Gymnasium. A five-time America East rookie of the week averaging 14.7 points, Orciari, a guard, spent much of the first half sitting with foul trouble. But he found his scoring touch in time to save Vermont, which had seen a 10-point lead become a four-point deficit with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining.

Purdue almost made the kind of NCAA tournament history that would have left Gene Keady's face in a permanent scowl last night. "Just the kind of history I make," Keady said after his Boilermakers averted the humiliation of being the first top-seeded team to lose to a No. 16 seed, edging Western Carolina, 73-71, in a first-round game of the West Regional before an incredulous near-sellout crowd at the Pit. Purdue (26-5), considered the weakest No. 1 seed in the NCAA field, hung on after Brandon Brantley's slam dunk on a second-chance opportunity gave the Big Ten champions a two-point lead with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining.

If it could talk, the right knee of Villanova center Wyatt Maker could tell some stories that would chill the weak of heart and thrill medical students everywhere. Maker's knee has experienced a broken growth plate, a dislocation, a couple of major operations and four arthroscopes. One of the major operations, while Maker was in high school, involved the cutting of tendons to relocate the kneecap. Arthroscope No. 4 went in on Oct. 27, and Maker wasn't expected to do much in the early part of the Wildcats' schedule.

  Getting into the NCAA tournament is the hard part for North Carolina State. Winning a first game? Not that difficult, apparently. Richard Howell doubled his average with 22 points as 11th-seeded North Carolina State used its muscle inside and sticky defense to upset No. 6 seed San Diego State, 79-65, in a second-round East Regional game Friday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Wolfpack (23-12) advances to play the winner of Georgetown on Sunday. Lorenzo Brown added 17 points, C.J. Leslie 15, and Scott Wood 10 for the Wolfpack, who are now 12-5 in their first NCAA games.

FOUR-SHADOWING NOBODY REALLY paid much attention to last year's initial "First Four" until one of them made the Final Four. That was VCU. This year is different. Everybody around here interested in Temple will be locked into this year's First Four because the fifth-seeded Owls get one of the survivors. California plays South Florida at 9 p.m. Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner advancing to play Philly's only NCAA team. Temple is the lowest seed to draw a play-in winner.

Manny Pacquiao has been installed as a 6-1 favorite in Saturday night's match against Shane Mosley at Las Vegas' MGM Grand hotel. The odds are very much against the 39-year-old Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), who is trying to to bounce back from a bad loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. against a fighter who has been beating up everyone put in front of him. The 32-year-old Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) has won 13 straight fights, and is so confident of his chances that he has scheduled a postfight concert on the Las Vegas Strip for all his loyal followers.

Alexis Rack drove through and around Ohio State's slow-to-react defense for 30 points, and seventh-seeded Mississippi State upset the second-seeded Buckeyes, 87-67, last night in Pittsburgh in a second-round game in the Dayton Regional. The Lady Bulldogs reached the round of 16 for the first time. They trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, only to use their quickness, adept ball movement and outside shooting to seize control with an 18-0 run that turned a 32-26 deficit into a 44-32 lead.

Alexis Rack drove through and around Ohio State's slow-to-react defense for 30 points and seventh-seeded Mississippi State upset the second-seeded Buckeyes, 87-67, last night in Pittsburgh to reach the NCAA women's tournament round of 16 for the first time. The Bulldogs (21-12) trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, only to use their quickness, adept ball movement and outside shooting to seize control with an 18-0 run that turned a 32-26 deficit into a 44-32 lead.

Syracuse might have taken Vermont lightly 5 years ago. Rest assured that won't happen again. "I know that it's going to be a real big game for Coach, and I think all of us, coming off a two-game losing streak," said Syracuse forward Wes Johnson, the Big East player of the year. "It's for us to bounce back. " Syracuse was fresh from winning the Big East Tournament when it faced Vermont in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. But former stars Gerry McNamara and Friends' Central's Hakim Warrick were unable to come to the rescue in the slow-paced game and Syracuse suffered a stunning overtime loss to the 13th-seeded Catamounts.

Consecutive games, career scoring highs. That's what Jamie Harris has done for Drexel the past two basketball games. The 5-11 junior, poured in 28 points yesterday as Drexel (2-3) defeated Vermont, 74-61, in a Legends Classic matchup at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Harris made nine of 17 field-goal attempts, several of them floaters in the lane against much taller players. The Dragons' point guard also converted nine of 12 free throw attempts, including six of eight in the closing minutes.

Tonya Cardoza's first NCAA women's basketball tournament experience as a head coach at Temple ended much differently yesterday than the ones in the 14 years she spent as an assistant at the University of Connecticut. The ninth-seeded Owls fell to eighth-seeded Florida, 70-57, as they missed a slew of easy shots and suffered defensive lapses in a first-round game in the Trenton Regional. The most telling statistical comparison involved three-point attempts. Temple (21-10) was 0 for 12 from beyond the arc, while the Gators (24-7)

Lawrence Westbrook and Travis Busch each scored 10 points and No. 22 Minnesota rallied from a 13-point deficit then hung on to beat host Iowa, 52-49, last night. The Golden Gophers (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten) shot only 33.9 percent from the field and nearly let the game slip away in the closing seconds. Minnesota led 50-44 with 24.5 seconds left. Jake Kelly of Iowa (11-5, 1-2) scored and Al Nolen of Minnesota missed two free throws. Jeff Peterson buried an open 3 from the corner with 5.3 seconds left to make it a one-point game, but Westbrook hit two free throws.

Jahvid Best ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns yesterday as California blasted Washington State, 66-3, spoiling coach Paul Wulff's first game back in Pullman, Wash., since he was a star player in the late 1980s. Best had TD runs of 80, 5 and 86 yards. The 5-yarder came after Syd'Quan Thompson 90-yard return of an interception. California (2-0, 1-0 Pac-10) had 505 yards in its most lopsided win over the Cougars (0-2, 0-1) in their series, topping a 61-0 win in 1922. Notre Dame 21, San Diego State 13 - Jimmy Clausen threw a 38-yard TD pass to Golden Tate as the Irish (1-0)