More fun and games in Division II

My evening's Internet browsing usually includes a look at the Conference Carolinas website on nights when games are played in that NCAA Division II league. As noted before, I cover the games of Queens University of Charlotte, one of the members of the conference, for the Charlotte Observer.

A score jumped out at me just a little while ago when I checked tonight's results: Pfeiffer 126, Barton 117. It looked like the score of a Lakers-Celtics game from 1972 (back when the NBA was actually interesting, but that's for another day). And I wondered how many overtimes it took to get to that result. Answer: none.

If you'll check my blog entry from Jan. 18, I wrote then about Pfeiffer, a small school about 40 miles northeast of Charlotte, and its high-scoring, frequent-substitution style of play. And tonight's game must have been something to see. Pfeiffer led 71-60 at halftime.

And it's an even more impressive accomplishment that they rang up those totals against Barton, a perennial contender for the conference championship and the winner of the Division II national title in 2007.

A quick digression here. Follow this link to see the final 45 seconds of that championship game. The Bulldogs, who trailed Winona (Minn.) State by seven, won the game on guard Anthony Atkinson's length-of-the-floor drive and layup at the buzzer. It became an instant YouTube classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFYnersg2Us

Because of the upset, Barton, in second place, missed a chance to move into a first-place tie with Mount Olive, which was in a pickle of its own tonight. (North Carolinians will get the bad joke here.) The conference leaders fell in a 99-91 upset to Belmont Abbey.

I've got Queens hosting always-pesky Coker tomorrow night. Coker won the first meeting of the two teams in double overtime at their gym in Hartsville, S.C. So there's more fun to be had in this quirky little conference before the regular season ends.