Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202140207
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES' TROUBLES CONTINUE
And the beat(ing) goes on for Virginia Tech.Thursday night at Cassell Coliseum was Tech latest attempt to interrupt a head-shaking string of defeats. It turned into another Hokies headache, a 73-60 Metro Conference basketball loss to Southern Mississippi.
Tech (7-13 overall, 1-6 conference) has lost five in a row and must win its seven remaining games to avoid a losing regular-season record. Hokies coach Bill Foster has not had a losing record in his first season at any of the four schools he has coached.
"I am not a defeatist," Foster said.
However, the Hokies have lost seven of their past eight games, beating only non-conference opponent East Carolina.
"We've just got to keep working, to play every game like it's the one we know we can win," Tech guard Jay Purcell said.
Southern Miss (10-11, 4-4), which beat Tech for the seventh straight time, got its third road win in 12 tries. Southern Miss has won two in a row after breaking a three-game losing streak Saturday against South Florida.
The Golden Eagles won without forward Ron Rembert, their second-leading scorer. Coach M.K. Turk said Rembert, who was in uniform, is not being punished for anything but is "working through some tough personal and academic problems."
Southern Miss shot 54.4 percent; made just eight turnovers; got 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks from Clarence Weatherspoon; and used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to win.
"This was one of if not the best road games we've played this year," Turk said.
Tech stayed close until the 11-minute mark of the second half. A jumper by Don Corker, who emerged from down near the end of the bench to score seven points and play tough defense, pulled the Hokies to 48-42 with 11:09 left.
The Golden Eagles scored the next 10 points, the last four on two fast breaks, to pull ahead 58-42 with 8:23 left. Bernard Haslett had a jumper, Joe Courtney scored two baskets and Weatherspoon and Dallas Dale each scored on a break.
In that stretch, Tech's Corey Jackson missed two 3-pointers and John Rivers missed a follow shot and had two turnovers.
Tech took a timeout, but Southern Miss got dunks from Weatherspoon and Courtney - two of the Golden Eagles' six slams - to make it 62-44 with 6:45 left. Tech got to 66-56 with 1:33 left.
Turk said the key was his club's outside offense.
"Our perimeter people have been inconsistent," Turk said. "We're zeroing in now with some consistency where we're a threat from outside. That's what's so refreshing to me."
Tech's shooting was stale again. The Hokies haven't shot close to 50 percent in their past 12 games. Even a lineup change to start the second half - Foster sat down Rivers because of ineffectiveness - failed to jolt Tech.
Rivers left the game with 1:53 remaining with a slightly sprained ankle and is listed as probable for Saturday's home game against 14th-ranked Tulane.
"At practice [Wednesday], we had nine healthy bodies," Foster said. "It's tough to put in something when you're working five-on-four."
Tech's most effective ploy Thursday was its occasional high-intensity halfcourt man-to-man, sparked by Corker and Purcell. Sometimes, Tech kicked into a full-court man defense, but even that had its drawbacks.
"That's the first time we really went like that," Purcell said. "We got a little winded."
Winded watching all those Southern Miss jump shots hit home.
Even bulky Weatherspoon, two-time Metro Conference player of the year, had several jumpers among his 10 field goals.
"Posting up can only get you so far," Weatherspoon said.
Tech, on the other hand, has no reliable offense. It shot 7-of-16 on free throws (as did Southern Miss), and in the first half produced a symbol of a frustrating season:
The team's top scorer, Thomas Elliott, stole a pass at the top of the key, sprinted downcourt by himself, measured his steps and missed a one-handed dunk. The ball rolled off the front of the rim.
Foster took a walk to the end of the bench. Perhaps he was chanting to himself what were his parting words to the media after the game: "Keep the faith." \
see microfilm for box score
Memo: a different version of this story ran in the State edition.