Area college notes: Belmont falls to Pitt

The Belmont basketball squad flirted with another monumental major

conference victory, but cold shooting and the hot hand of an All-Big East performer spelled a 74-60 setback at fourth-ranked Pittsburgh Tuesday night.

Both Belmont and Pittsburgh played shorthanded, as the Bruins went without all-conference forward Shane Dansby while the host Panthers suited up without All-America candidate DeJuan Blair.

Two free throws got the Bruins within 57-46 with 9:00 remaining, before four straight Panther free throws halted the momentum.

Matthew Dotson paced Belmont with a season-high 16 points. Alex Renfroe added his first career double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Sam Young led Pittsburgh (5-0) with a career-high 33 points.

Belmont returns to action Monday, Dec. 1 at Tennessee State.

TSU’s Williams named OVC’s top offensive player

Tennessee State senior running back Javarris Williams has been named the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Williams, a native of Foster High in Richmond, Texas, leads ten (10) TSU Tigers on various All-OVC teams, including three on the first team.

This season, Williams averaged a league-best 103.7 ypg with 1,037 yards in ten (10) games, including a league-best fifteen (15) rushing touchdowns. Williams also scored one touchdown on a pass and had a league leading 9.6 points per game scoring average. He finishes his TSU career as the top all-time rushing TD leader (42) and second on the all-time rushing list with 4,329 yards. He had six (6) 100+ yard rushing games this season and twenty (20) such games in his career. Williams rushed for more than 1,000 yards three consecutive years.

Joining Williams on the first team of the 2008 All-OVC team are two senior offensive linemen in center Cecil Newton and tackle Cornelius Lewis.

Newton, a 6-2, 305 lb. native of Atlanta, is a four-year starter and the leader of the TSU offensive line that led the OVC in rushing average (195.8 ypg). Cecil helped lead the blocking for Williams for three years.

Lewis, is a 6-5, 310-lb. native of Jacksonville, Fla., transferred to TSU from Florida State in 2007 and helped solidify the Tigers’ offensive front that powered the TSU rushing attack to average almost 200 yards per game.