Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403130164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BILOXI, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
The Hokies led by 14 points at halftime, but 14th-ranked Louisville lapped up all of that and more in a fierce second half en route to a 76-67 victory in a Metro semifinal at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Louisville (25-5) earned its 13th appearance in the Metro final in its 19th year in the league. The Cardinals have won nine Metro tournament titles, including four of the past six.
Tech (18-10) would have put itself in the NCAA Tournament picture with a victory Saturday. Instead, the Hokies expect a phone call from the National Invitation Tournament today, when the bids and first-round matchups are expected to be announced. It would be Tech's first postseason appearance since 1985-86.
"Hopefully, our season's not over," said Bill Foster, the Hokies' coach. "We're getting better every game."
Tech wasn't quite good enough Saturday in a sometimes-breathtaking game full of 3-pointers, dunks, mad scrambles, trash-talking and even conniving.
"It was very intense," said Hokies forward Ace Custis. "The refs told us to stop [the jawing]. We kind of had to sneak it in here and there."
Tech was quite brash in the first half. It shot 52.8 percent from the field, forced 11 Louisville turnovers and took a 46-32 lead by hitting four consecutive field-goal attempts before the break - including three 3-pointers (two by Damon Watlington and one by Corey Jackson).
"I thought [our momentum] would carry over to the second half," said Custis, who had his fifth double-double this season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. "We knew they were coming out with something."
It was the bench. Louisville coach Denny Crum sat starters Dwayne Morton, DeJuan Wheat and Jason Osborne to open the second half - and reserves Alvin Sims, Tick Rogers and Brian Kiser sparked a 9-0 run.
Sims' dunk and three-point play on a fast break cut Tech's lead to 46-38 with 17 minutes, 56 seconds left. And Kiser's right-corner 3-pointer on a Sims assist made it 46-41 with 17:16 to play.
The Hokies got the lead back to nine at 50-41 with 15:30 left, but didn't score for two minutes. Meanwhile, Louisville got five points from Morton and two from Greg Minor to make it 50-48.
The Cardinals tied it with 10:57 remaining and took the lead with 10:06 left on a tip-in by Minor.
Louisville, ahead 54-52, claimed artistic and perhaps emotional ownership of the game when Minor's fast-break pass sailed behind Morton, who made an off-balance catch and, while turning left-to-right with his back to the basket, tossed the ball off the backboard to Rozier, who slammed it.
At one point in the second half, Louisville had outscored Tech 31-9.
"That second half is probably about as good as we can play," Crum said. "We might play better, but I'd be surprised."
The Hokies' active defense limited Metro player of the year Clifford Rozier to three field-goal attempts in the first half. But the Cardinals bruised Tech inside in the second half. Eleven of Louisville's 16 second-half field-goals came on layups, tip-ins, dunks or inside jumpers.
"They hit some big 3s. You tend to remember them, like home runs," Foster said. "But it's tough to match up with Rozier."
The Hokies did it in the first half and so pleased themselves that they went hopping off the court at halftime, smiling and slapping high-fives.
"That's about as good as we can play in the first half, particularly offensively," said Foster, who was concerned about Tech's halftime reaction. "That's a situation we're not used to being in. I think we'd handle it better if we were in that situation a little bit more."
Louisville, which has beaten Tech six consecutive times, rallied using some players who'd rarely been asked to push the Cardinals. Sims had 11 points and two did-not-plays in his past nine games; and Kiser and Rogers had played minor roles all season.
by CNB