Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
VMI RALLY FALLS SHORT
VMI hasn't won a basketball game since Jan. 16, but the Keydets have yet to surrender the season.Rather than crumble in the face of big second-half trouble Saturday against Marshall, VMI climbed 20 points out of a 23-point hole to give the Thundering Herd a fight to the finish.
Marshall, No. 2 in the Southern Conference standings, regained its shattered composure in time to escape Cameron Hall with a 78-69 league victory.
It was the eighth straight loss for VMI (5-14 overall, 3-9 conference), the school's longest slide since it lost that many during the 1983-84 season.
With 13:38 remaining, Marshall's Tink Brown sank a 3-pointer that gave his team a luxurious 59-36 lead.
"It looked bleak," said VMI coach Joe Cantafio. "But our guys aren't the type to pack it in."
The Keydets ignored their deficit, their streak and their foul trouble as they staged a double-time rally.
A 10-0 run - completed by Lewis Preston's four points in 10 seconds - pulled the Keydets to 64-54 with 7:47 left. Then Bobby Prince hit a 3-pointer and a leaning jumper and Jonathan Penn added two of his trademark runners to slice the lead to 68-63 with 5:15 to go.
To that point, VMI had erased 18 points in 8:23.
"Any time you play a military school, you know they aren't gonna quit," said Herd forward Tyrone Phillips. "They march four hours a day. They don't know what tired is."
Marshall (14-5, 9-3) took a 70-63 lead on Chris Morrow's 15-footer, but VMI's Lawrence Gullette had a steal and slam and Prince added two free throws to cap a 31-11 surge and bring VMI to 70-67 with 46 seconds remaining.
But the Herd made eight of 10 free throws and the Keydets went cold down the stretch.
"We didn't back down," Cantafio said. "In the [80-66] loss at their place, we kind of stood around. We got involved this time. We got physical with them."
The Keydets matched Marshall on the glass and held their own in the 46-foul, 58-free throw affair. There was foul trouble, though, for VMI: Penn picked up his fourth 41 seconds into the second half, and Preston got No. 4 with 10:28 to play and fouled out with 30 seconds left.
Preston, the 6-foot-8 senior from Boones Mill, scored 10 points to become the 21st Keydet to reach the 1,000-points mark. Penn, the 20th, reached 1,000 last weekend.
Prince led VMI with 17 points, 13 in the second half. Juan Banks added 14 in his second straight 5-for-7 outing, and Gullette had 10.
"VMI is a gutsy group," said Marshall coach Dwight Freeman. "They're one of the teams - along with The Citadel and Western Carolina - that doesn't have anything to lose now. They're not fighting for a conference title; they're just trying to upset people and disrupt things above."
Phillips, the league's leading scorer at 24.7 points per game, had just four points with two fouls in 10 first-half minutes. But he scored 12 points in 4:20 during a 14-2 run that put the Herd up 56-34 early in the second half.
He had 19 of his 23 points in the half and plenty to say afterward.
"[VMI] was just hacking, period," Phillips said. "And the refs felt like we were the better team, so they let it happen.
"So then I just started throwing some cheap ones before I took it up, and they didn't call that, either. VMI was yelling and complaining in the second half like I was in the first half."
VMI led 16-12, but Marshall reeled off a 25-7 run and held the Keydets without a field goal for 10:35.
Prince hit a layup and Bryan Woolsey added a 3-pointer at the buzzer as VMI pulled to 40-30 at halftime. \
see microfilm for box score