Danes slay Red Dragons , raise record to 5 - 0

By Dean Chang MANAGING EDITOR Led by seven straight points from Rich Chapman, the Albany State Great Danes pulled away from the Cortland Red Dragons late in the second half to record their fifth win, 74-59. Cortland's Mike Stokes had just converted a three-point play to cut the Dane lead to six with four minutes to play. Albany Head Coach Dick Sauers substituted Chapman and Brian Kauppila in for Pete Gosule and Jan Zadoorian and got almost immediate results. Cortland's Dave Wilson and Allen Scott were harrassing Dane point guard Danny Croutier on defense for most of the game. On this occasion, Croutier get the better of it. Scott went for the steal and Croutier dribbled around him for a 15-foot jumper. Scott came up from behind and fouled Croutier, who hit the free throw to give Albany a nine-point lead. After Cortland's Pete Shene missed both his foul shots on the next possession, Chapman blocked the follow-up attempt and was fouled downcourt by Shene. Two free throws later, Greg Hart stole the ball from two Red Dragons which led to another field goal by Chapman. At this point, Cortland was forced to gamble on defense. But the gamble didn't pay off. Off the full-court trap, Dave Adam found Chapman all alone under the basket for an easy pair that gave the Danes a 13-point lead and the game. The play didn't go off as plann• ed, according to Adam. "We were in a high-post stall and I was looking for Danny, but he was being overplayed," said the Dane shooting guard. "When that happens, there's usually someone open. Then I saw Rich waving his arms under the basket." Along with Hart, Chapman has beefed up the Danes in the middle. But the two don't play together nearly enough to Chapman's likings. "I play with Greg for two minutes," said Chapman. "I'd love to play with him for the whole game, but usually we come in for each other. When we're in at the same time, no one's going to get any rebounds. He's my kind of player." This was one game where Albany needed some physical play from their big men. Cortland's guards were constantly holding and roughing up Croutier, especially after Croutier's technical foul at the end of the first half. "I think that they (Cortland) were trying to provoke me into hitting him (Wilson)," said Croutier, adding "and I almost did." Neither coach was happy about the officiating, or more precisely, the lack of it. "I thought the game got out of hand," said Sauers. "The officials let the game go too far." Cortland Head Coach Bill Williams, the recipient of a technical foul late in the game, was less generous in his appraisal of the referees. "I don't know of any place where a coach gets a technical with 30 seconds left in the game," said Williams. "Only in Albany." "The game was very physical, and there were fouls that should have been called on both sides," said Williams. "I have no complaints with the bumping that goes on. But if an arm is grabbed, that goes beyond allowing physical play." Croutier and Wilson nearly got into an altercation, which might have been avoided had the officials been calling the game more tightly, according to both coaches. But neither coach would blame either player. "You can't blame Wilson," said Sauers. "He's just trying to do his best. He's not as good of a player as Danny." Cort land was the first SUNVAC o p p o n e n t the undefeated Danes faced this year. This was also Albany's first game with a 45-second shot clock, something the Danes seemed oblivious to. Albany rarely let the shot clock go down to under 15 seconds, even when killing time would have been a good idea. "When we have that kind of lead, our players have to learn to take their time," said Sauers. "I don't think we took any shots in the last 20 seconds." The Red Dragons were less fortunate. Cortland was forced to shoot several times to avoid having the clock run out. In one instance, Cortland's John Long's jumper failed to beat the clock and the ball was turned over. "I didn't really care about that early one," said Williams. "I LUCKEY UPS