Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994 TAG: 9402130156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Lester who?
Johnson, the guy who was making his first collegiate start, the walk-on Michael Jordan look-alike who had 19 points and 16 rebounds combined in the Keydets' previous 19 games this season.
"We made him a star," said Mack McCarthy, Tennessee-Chattanooga's coach. "[VMI coach] Joe [Cantafio] told me last night [Johnson] was starting, and I was embarrassed because I didn't know who he was. I had to go look on the stat sheet to find out."
Johnson, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, started in place of senior Jonathan Goodman, who sat out the first 10 minutes of the game for disciplinary reasons. Johnson had one thought when he got the starting call: whether or not he would toss his cookies.
"Usually when I come in, I don't play too well because I'm so nervous," he said. "But the team talked to me and told me to keep my head. . . . Actually, the thing that drove me was nervousness. I didn't want to think about it, so I just concentrated on playing hard."
Cantafio said he wasn't surprised by Johnson's performance.
"Lester plays very, very hard in practice. He moves his feet well and is a good athlete. I thought he did a nice job," VMI's coach said.
The nerves weren't apparent early as freshman Maurice Spencer fed Johnson with a perfect alley-oop pass 1 minute, 40 seconds into the game. Lawrence Gullette hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds later, and the Keydets took a 7-0 lead, their biggest of the game.
VMI (3-17 overall, 1-11 in the Southern Conference) clung to the lead until the 7:47 mark, when UTC's Brandon Born, a 6-7 forward, made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the score at 23.
Another basket underneath by Born and a short jumper by Maurio Hanson sandwiched around a Johnson free throw put the league leaders up 27-24. Goodman made a short jumper that drew a foul. He hit the free throw to make it 27-27, but that was as close as the Keydets would get the rest of the way.
Johnson had seven points and 12 rebounds in the first half, but VMI shot 32 percent as a team and trailed 37-30 going into the locker room.
UTC (16-5, 10-3) made three 3-pointers - two by Chad Copeland - in the first three minutes of the second half and the Keydets faded. Copeland, the second-leading scorer in the conference with a 20.8 average, was held to eight Saturday.
John Oliver scored all 16 of his points after halftime to spark the Moccasins, who hit 60 percent of their field-goal attempts in the second half and 51 percent in the game. The reserve forward was 6-for-9 from the field, including four 3-pointers.
"John's been playing well for us," McCarthy said. "If he gets the number of minutes, he can get up and down the court quickly and score. . . . Fred Moore gave us a boost in offense that we don't count on."
Moore also came off the bench to score eight of his 10 points in the second half.
Said Cantafio: "It was just a case of they had a lot of firepower out there. . . . They're a strong, physical team and they can shoot it. That's a good combination."
Born finished with a team-high 22 points for UTC, and Gary Robb and Hanson had 14 points each. Hanson also had nine rebounds and eight assists, both team highs.
Freshman Warren Johnson led the Keydets with 17 points, including eight in the second half, when VMI improved to 56 percent shooting. Freshman Darryl Faulkner added 13 points, and sophomore Bryan Woolsey came off the bench to contribute six points and seven rebounds.
VMI, which committed 16 turnovers to five by UTC, plays four of its next five games at home, starting Monday with Western Carolina at 7 p.m.
by CNB