Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993 TAG: 9312070172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
In three games this year, those two terms have scrubbed themselves behind the ears and may be uttered in mixed company.
Reserves Shawn Smith, Damon Watlington and Travis Jackson combined for 34 points on 13-for-19 field-goal shooting as Tech cruised past VMI 82-59 before 4,312 spectators Monday at Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies (3-0) prevented eighth-year VMI coach Joe Cantafio from becoming the school's all-time leader in coaching victories. Cantafio is tied with Charlie Schmaus (75 from 1977-82).
Tech raced to a 34-12 lead with 5 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first half, getting 15 of those points from Smith, Watlington and Don Corker. The closest VMI got was 14, at halftime; Tech's lead hit 20 with 11:07 left in the second half and stayed there or higher most of the rest of the game.
"I'm not sure we don't get better when we sub," said Foster, who wasn't sure he WANTED to sub in his first two years at Tech.
His first Hokie team was drastically short of scholarship players; last year, three of the top four reserves were freshmen.
"Now, you're bringing somebody off who's got a little bit of experience, who's been yelled at," Foster said.
Monday, it was VMI's freshmen getting their first sets of red ears. The Keydets start three first-year players and bring another off the bench.
Guards Maurice Spencer (15 points), Warren Johnson (eight) and Darryl Faulkner (seven) are quick, athletic and, at the moment, out of control. The Keydets shot 32 percent from the floor, "led" by Johnson's 3-for-15 outing.
"At times, we're going to get a little wild," admitted sophomore Terrell Milam of Roanoke, who had 12 points.
VMI's overheated offense undermined intense defense and rebounding and kept the Keydets from climbing back in the game.
VMI (1-2) made one serious charge, a 12-4 run (led by Milam's five points) that cut Tech's 34-12 lead to 38-24 at halftime. Otherwise, VMI's offense kept Cantafio frustrated.
"In the first half, we were brain-dead on the offense," Cantafio said.
The Hokies, meanwhile, had folks like Smith, Watlington and Jackson to score.
"We had nobody to retaliate with," Cantafio said.
Smith, a 6-foot-6 forward, is Tech's leading scorer (15 points per game) and hasn't started once. Watlington and Travis Jackson had their season-highs.
"We've got two or three guys [who are] just as good to start," said Watlington, a sophomore. "I'm thinking shooting first if I get an open shot. I play better like that."
Jackson, a 6-8, 228-pound sophomore, usually floated around the perimeter last year. But with Smith and Ace Custis around, Jackson got the message from Foster that he was welcome in two places: In the paint or on the bench.
Of Jackson's three field goals Monday, none came from outside 10 feet.
"We have a ton of perimeter guys, and I knew if I was going to play, I had to improve my inside game," he said.
Tech, despite Custis' 16 rebounds, needs to nurture its inside game; it outrebounded smaller VMI by just five. The Hokies shot only 40 percent from the field but got 17 points from Jim Jackson and committed just nine turnovers to VMI's 20.
Still, Tech couldn't squash the Keydets like it did Coastal Carolina in a 34-point blowout on Saturday. Cantafio said VMI's defense wasn't "half-bad." Travis Jackson said the Hokies may have been half-satisfied with a 20-point lead.
"You know how it is when you get up by a pretty good margin," said Jackson, whose team has done little of that the past couple years. "You tend to just play sandlot ball." \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB