Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003102366
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
The Cavaliers presented coach Terry Holland with one of the nicest mementoes of his final season, pulling away in overtime for a 92-85 victory over North Carolina in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
UVa had lost its final two games of the regular season, including a 51-50 decision to Wake Forest in Holland's final home game, and was given little chance of beating the Tar Heels.
"They missed some open ones against Wake Forest and Maryland [in an 89-74 loss] and then, all of a sudden, here they came," said Dean Smith, North Carolina's coach. "Virginia was uncanny with its shooting."
The Cavaliers set an ACC record Feb. 14 by making 15 of 32 3-point field-goal attempts in an 81-80 victory over North Carolina, but they entered Friday's game ranked last in the ACC in season field-goal percentage, at 43.2.
"They haven't been a very good outside-shooting team, except against North Carolina, and that's something we'll have to live with," Smith said. "We're very disappointed."
It was only the second first-round loss in 13 games for the Tar Heels (19-12).
Virginia is 18-10 going into today's semifinal game against Clemson at 1:30 p.m.
The Cavaliers, who fretted over their chances for an NCAA Tournament bid after the two late-season losses, may have assured themselves an invitation with their fourth overtime victory of the season.
"I heard a lot of people ask, `Will 17 wins do it?' " said John Crotty, UVa's point guard. "There just wasn't much talk of us beating North Carolina. I'm glad to say we proved them wrong."
It was the sixth game the Cavaliers won this season after trailing at halftime, although the Tar Heels needed to score the last five points of the half to go ahead 35-34.
UVa regained the lead early in the second half and was ahead by seven points on two occasions, the last at 67-60 with 7:45 remaining.
Carolina fought back and "played as well as we have all year in the second half," Smith said.
The Cavaliers were up to the task, completing three straight bonus free-throw situations, including two by Bryant Stith to give UVa an 81-77 lead with 1:20 remaining in regulation.
After a Scott Williams basket with 38 seconds left, official Gerry Donaghy called Stith for a charge that returned the ball to Carolina with 35 seconds remaining.
"I really think that was a no-call situation," Stith said. "I just turned around and [Rick Fox] went flying 15 feet backward. Everybody on their bench stood up and yelled, `Charge!' so it was pretty understandable."
Williams' tip-in with five seconds remaining sent the game into overtime, which was not altogether a bad situation for UVa. The Cavaliers have won eight straight overtime games dating to 1987.
A basket by Williams put Carolina ahead 85-84 with 2:48 remaining in overtime, but the Tar Heels did not score again. The Cavaliers went ahead 86-85 with 2:09 left on the first of two jumpers by Anthony Oliver.
Oliver, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Faison, N.C., hit 10 of 11 shots from the field and finished with a career-high 23 points despite being limited to 22 minutes of action by foul trouble.
The Cavaliers were led by Stith, who broke out of an 8-for-26 shooting slump and finished with a game-high 32 points and 11 rebounds.
"I made a promise to myself after the two games last week that I would never get down on myself again," said Stith, who scored a season-low seven points in the 51-50 loss to Wake Forest. "I came out very confident. I didn't want to leave anything in the locker room.
"I think this is the first game that you could really say that Bryant Stith took control and took charge."
Almost overlooked was the play of junior forward Kenny Turner, who hit seven of 11 shots from the field and finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Virginia outrebounded the Tar Heels 40-31.
The Cavaliers played most of the game with nobody taller than 6-7 Matt Blundin, who grabbed eight rebounds "and does a lot of things defensively for them that people don't realize," Smith said.
Blundin's only points of the day came on a one-and-one with 34 seconds left in overtime and UVa ahead 88-85. The Cavaliers, shaky at the line for the last month, finished 16-of-18.
Carolina was led by Fox, who had 21 points before fouling out with 3:36 left in overtime, and Williams, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds.
"I should feel better than if we'd played poorly and lost," said Smith, who obviously did not. "We feel we can play with any team in the country. The play today was at an NCAA-championship level."
Few people could have predicted that kind of performance from Virginia, which had shot less than 35 percent in three of five previous games, but the Cavaliers, picked to finish seventh in the ACC in preseason polls, have pulled their share of surprises.
"People wrote us off," Stith said. "No one gave us a chance of winning in the first round and that really bothered us.
"When we were down one coming to the locker room at halftime, we just said, `What's it going to be, NCAA or NIT?' We just made up our minds there would be no NIT for us this year."
VIRGINIA
MP FG FT R A F PT
Turner 39 7-11 1-2 10 3 2 17; Stith 42 11-22 9-10 11 3 3 32; Jeffries 18 1-2 0-0 2 0 2 2; Oliver 22 10-11 2-2 3 0 4 23; Crotty 44 4-13 2-2 3 5 0 11; Blundin 32 0-4 2-2 8 2 4 2; Kirby 19 2-4 0-0 1 0 0 5; Daniel 5 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0; Smith 4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0; Totals 35-68 16-18 40 13 16 92. NORTH CAROLINA MP FG FT R A F PT
Madden 32 2-5 2-3 3 2 2 6; Chilcutt 28 5-7 0-0 2 1 3 10; Williams 34 9-16 2-5 12 1 3 20; Harris 4 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0; Rodl 13 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 3; Rice 38 3-12 0-0 4 11 0 6; Fox 31 8-13 0-0 3 3 5 21; Lynch 22 5-9 2-2 5 0 2 12; Davis 19 3-7 0-0 0 1 0 7; Wenstrom 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0; Denny 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0; Totals 36-73 6-10 31 20 18 85
Virginia 34-47-11--92
North Carolina 35-46-4--84
Three-point goals--Virginia 6-19(Turner 2-3, Stith 1-6, Oliver 1-1, Crotty 1-6, Kirby 1-3), North Carolina 7-17(Williams 0-2, Harris 0-1, Rodl 1-1, Rice 0-4, Fox 5-7, Davis 1-2).
Turnovers--Virginia 15, North Carolina 12.
Technicals--None. Officials--Doneghy, Edsall, Rose. A--23,530.
by CNB