Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312120085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
By the time the Keydets began digging their way out of it, Radford (4-2) was marching to a 79-61 victory.
Relying upon dominant rebounding, inside scoring from big men Tyrone Travis and Don Burgess and woeful shooting by the opposition, Radford took a 21-4 lead seven minutes into the game.
For the remaining 33 minutes, the teams matched points. VMI cut its deficit to 10 points on a Bryan Woolsey 3-pointer late in the second half, but Burgess - who led all scorers with 22 points - provided the offensive spark to keep the Highlanders out of reach.
Burgess, who had averaged fewer than six points per game against VMI in his career, concentrated on improving on that number.
"My sophomore year, I basically got embarrassed up here," he said, referring to a 79-69 VMI victory in Lexington in 1991.
Burgess surpassed his three previous VMI games combined, making seven field-goal attempts and all eight of his free throws.
"My teammates were setting picks and screens and getting me the ball," Burgess said. "I was just finishing the plays."
Travis scored 19 points on 7-of-9 field-goal shooting, and freshman Anthony Walker, coming off a record-setting 39-point performance Monday against George Mason, added 12.
In the first half, VMI shot 27.8 percent from the field and was outrebounded 24-14.
"We missed four or five easy shots," VMI coach Joe Cantafio said, referring to some point-blank opportunities and an uncontested layup. "If we had made those, we would have been in the game."
"I didn't feel good until there were about two minutes to go," said Ron Bradley, Radford's coach. "VMI's always brought it back against us, and I knew they would today."
Cantafio attributed his squad's inconsistency to inexperience.
"The majority of our players have only had 20-some practices," he said.
Three Keydets freshmen - Darryl Faulkner, Warren Johnson and Maurice Spencer - played 29 minutes or more.
"We showed some signs [of playing well]," Cantafio said. "But it's something you've got to maintain over 40 minutes."
Spencer, whose three consecutive second-half baskets cut VMI's deficit to 12, at 56-44, led the Keydets with 18 points. Center Jonathan Goodman, who entered the game as the leading rebounder in the Southern Conference, added 14 points and nine rebounds - seven in the second half.
Johnson, coming in as the Keydets' leading scorer (14.0 ppg), managed 12 on Saturday, but he was 5-of-23 from the floor and 2-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Bradley felt Radford's early defense and rebounding made the difference. "In the first 12 minutes, I don't think they had an offensive rebound," the Highlanders' coach said. "I told our players that you've got to defend against VMI because you know they're going to [play defense]. Joe's teams always do."
The loss dropped the Keydets' record to 1-3 and prevented Cantafio from becoming the school's winningest basketball coach. He remains tied with Charlie Schmaus with 75 victories.
"We're missing [Lawrence] Gullette," Cantafio said.
Gullette, a 6-4 forward and VMI's leading returning scorer, has been forced to sit out because of academic reasons. He will be eligible to play in the Keydets' next game Dec. 22 at Dayton.
by CNB