Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993 TAG: 9302250178
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MORGANTOWN, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
WVU RALLIES BY TECH
Virginia Tech, one of college basketball's desert wanderers, almost took a sip of water Wednesday.Almost.
In a building where the Hokies had been flogged in their past two visits, Tech led 18-point favorite West Virginia until two minutes were left in the game. Then came a turnover, a fumbled rebound, a missed 3-pointer and a 74-70 loss.
The non-conference defeat was Tech's fourth straight, seventh in a row on the road this year and dropped the Hokies to 9-14. West Virginia (13-10) won for the first time in the eight games it has trailed at halftime. WVU raised its record to 12-1 at the WVU Coliseum before a season-low crowd of 5,368.
WVU ripped Tech here 94-68 in 1991 and 101-52 in 1988. Tech shot an uncommon 57.7 percent in the first half Monday and got a career-high 17 points from Jimmy Carruth.
"I'm glad we did play well," said Hokies point guard Jay Purcell, who had 21 points.
Tech led by 12 in the first half, by four at halftime, by 11 with 12:33 left in the game and by one with 2:02 left.
With 2 1/2 minutes left, WVU's Mike Boyd poked away the ball from Purcell in the backcourt; Purcell retrieved it but was called for a 10-second violation.
Boyd missed a jumper but WVU rebounded. Pervires Greene missed a jumper but rebounded and was fouled. A 62.5 percent free-throw shooter, he made the first two of six straight and WVU led 69-68.
Tech's Thomas Elliott missed two free throws, and Corey Jackson fouled Greene on the rebound. Greene sank two more for a 71-68 WVU lead with 1:46 left.
Corey Jackson's tip-in pulled Tech to one point with a minute left. WVU held the ball before Marsalis Basey missed a driving jumper - but Jackson knocked the rebound out of bounds with 18.3 seconds left.
Tech allowed 12 offensive rebounds in the second half. It was a bruising game - WVU's Matt Roadcap was ejected for throwing an elbow - but Jackson said the Hokies didn't wear down.
"We just didn't pursue the ball hard enough toward the end," he said.
Greene was fouled on the inbounds play and sank two more. Tech, with 16.8 seconds to shoot, got a 21-foot 3-point miss from Jackson with five seconds left.
"I really didn't know [how much time was left]," said Jackson, who entered when Jim Jackson took his 13 points to the bench with five fouls. "The man wasn't checking me, so I took the open shot."
The allure of uncontested long jumpers may have been what iced Tech in this one. By beating WVU's press and attacking the basket, the Hokies built a 55-44 lead with 12:33 left.
But in the next three minutes, Steve Hall missed a hasty jumper, Corey Jackson missed an open jumper and a behind-a-screen 3-pointer, Purcell was called for charging, Purcell missed a quickly taken 3-pointer and Hall missed a jumper with 30 seconds left on the shot clock.
WVU, meanwhile, got five points from Basey in a run that cut the deficit to 55-54. Tech's Shawn Smith missed a short shot, and Nenad Grmusa sank a 3-pointer to make it 57-55 Mountaineers with 8:36 to go.
"Those were good cracks," said Tech coach Bill Foster, uncritical of the short possessions.
"We just wanted to attack," Purcell said. "We didn't want to let up."
There were seven lead changes after that before Greene put it away at the free-throw line.
"I was very impressed with the last three, four minutes of the game, the way we played," said WVU coach Gale Catlett, who earned his 425th career coaching victory. "Free throws, shot selection, running the clock.
"We were flat starting the game, obviously, about as flat as any team I've had."
Tech helped with its aggressive offense, and by switching zone and man-to-man defenses.
Carruth had three dunks in the first half, all on the back end of WVU's press, and scored in double figures for the first time since Dec. 30.
"I'm a little sick right now," said Carruth, who has a cold. "I felt I had to fight over that, come out strong and battle like a soldier."
Jim Jackson also awoke. His 13 points were his most since Jan. 28. Those two, plus Tech's zone, helped the Hokies' first-half effort.
"They had us a little bit confused," Catlett said. "We were a step slow on the press; we created some of the problems for ourselves.
"A lot of our [offense] came from transition . . . rather than fighting through the defense."
The Mountaineers had nine turnovers to Tech's 18. The Hokies had 10 in the first half when they let a 19-7 lead with 12:22 left slip away. \
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