BRIEFS

Clemson Club's

spring meeting

The Cherokee County Clemson Club will hold its spring meeting on Monday Feb. 25, at 6 p.m. at the Clemson Extension Office in Gaffney. Clemson Football Recruiting Coordinator Billy Napier will speak. A bar-b-que supper will be served for $10 per person. Please call David Parker at 864-489-3141, ext. 113 (office) or 864-489-6338 (home) or email him at dprkr@clemson.edu to make reservations.

IU mum on

Sampson's future

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson may already know his fate.

The college basketball world is still waiting for a clear answer.

University officials met repeatedly throughout the day and debated late into the night what to do about the major allegations surrounding Sampson and the Indiana program. The Hoosiers have not been guilty of a major NCAA infraction since 1960.

Even players weren't immune to the process.

Following a scheduled 3 p.m. team meeting to discuss compliance issues Thursday, Hoosiers left without comment. They met later with athletic director Rick Greenspan and left as a group without saying a word about 7:45 p.m. Greenspan remained holed up in his office late into the night, and his family brought him a pillow.

The question was whether Sampson will still be coaching No. 15 Indiana when the team faces Northwestern on Saturday night, and even the university's board of trustees was unaware of a decision.

''I don't believe the athletic director has even given the recommendation to the president yet,'' trustee Patrick Shoulders said.

Sampson is accused of making improper phone calls, then providing false and misleading information to investigators from both the university and the NCAA.

Sims scores

14 in win

Donte Minter led a balanced effort with 15 points and Appalachian State routed Furman 90-77 on Thursday to clinch a first-round bye in the Southern Conference tournament.

Jeremy Clayton added 14 points and 13 rebounds and Donald Sims and Kellen Brand added 14 points apiece for the Mountaineers (17-10, 12-6), who snapped a two-game losing streak.

George Brozos scored 17 points and Noah States added 16 for the Paladins (6-21, 5-13), who trailed by as many as 31 points.

Appalachian State was never threatened, racing to a 51-26 halftime lead in moving into sole possession of first place in the North Division ahead of idle Chattanooga. The Mountaineers shot 49 percent and hit 11 of 22 3-pointers in beating Furman for the second time this season.

Furman, which had won two of its last three games, was outrebounded 41-31.

UT coach

responds to criticism

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer is lashing out at criticism about player disciplinary decisions in a newspaper column.

In the column published on The Knoxville News Sentinel's Web site on Thursday night, Fulmer said he has never used a player's skill or athletic success in deciding how he should be disciplined for an off-thefield problem.

''Our internal discipline is based on one factor alone: the course that is most likely to help that individual young man make amends and get his life straight,'' Fulmer wrote in the column that will appear in Friday's edition.

''I've undoubtedly made some mistakes, but I try to do what I think is in the best interest for each young man,'' he said.

The 15-year coach specifically responded to an opinion piece by News Sentinel columnist John Adams published earlier in the week calling for Fulmer to be fired because of a series of off-the-field discipline problems.