Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402270072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
For all the effort Virginia Tech expended putting away UNC Charlotte 63-55 in a Metro Conference men's basketball game Saturday, the Hokies had enough energy left for one more job.
Bobby Hussey's haircut.
Tech, having fulfilled Hussey's pregame edict - "Win, and you can shave my head" - gave the Hokies assistant coach a quick trim in the locker room after the game.
Hussey, who noted the players "didn't have the right equipment" to finish the job, said his head will come clean Monday.
It should be interesting.
"I don't think he'd look good with a bald head, like me and Jay [Purcell]," said Tech center Jimmy Carruth.
Incidentally, it was that close-cropped duo, each a senior playing in his last home game, who helped the Hokies shear UNCC for their third consecutive victory. Purcell had 21 points, the most he's scored since Dec. 30 against Florida International, and became the 26th Tech player to pass the 1,000-point mark.
Carruth had 10 points and matched his career high with totals of 11 rebounds and seven blocks - the second consecutive game he's swatted that many.
Tech (16-8 overall, 5-6 in the Metro) scored the game's first 11 points, led by as many as 18 in the first half and 15 in the second and repelled a late UNCC rally before a crowd of of 8,132.
The 49ers (13-10, 6-4) lost for the third time in five games and became Tech's ninth Cassell Coliseum victim this season. Tech moved past Virginia Commonwealth, a 90-75 loser to Tulane on Saturday, into fifth place in the Metro. A Southern Mississippi loss Saturday night would move Tech into fourth place in the conference.
In Tech's three-game winning streak - all against Metro teams - opponents have shot 35.9, 27.5 and 36.5 percent from the field.
"Our defense is getting us a lot of enthusiasm," Purcell said. "We drill our half-court offense, but we're really worried about our defensive intensity."
UNCC went 0-for-6 from the field with a turnover and a Tech steal on its first eight possessions as Carruth's four points jump-started the Hokies' 11-0 run.
Tech led 32-14 with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left before a 10-2 run by UNCC made it 34-24 at halftime. 49ers forward Jarvis Lang, who averages a double-double in points and rebounds, was 1-for-5 from the field at halftime.
"In my nine years of college coaching, that first half was the most physical half of basketball I've ever seen," said UNCC coach Jeff Mullins, stressing that he thought the fouls were called evenly. "I think it threw us off. Our inside guys really had problems."
Tech, meanwhile, shot 48.3 percent from the field in the first half, getting several back-door layups.
The Hokies stretched their lead to 14 points early in the second half as Purcell outscored the 49ers 7-3. Carruth had three blocks in that stretch - two on shots by UNCC's 6-foot-11 Rodney Odom.
"We started talking trash," Carruth said. "He was saying I was weak, I hadn't scored. I told him, `I'm going to block your shot.' "
Carruth backed that up, but Tech couldn't topple UNCC yet. Trailing 55-41 with 7:27 left, the 49ers outscored the Hokies 11-4 in the next four minutes, getting three consecutive rainbow 3-pointers from reserve guard Roderick Howard.
Howard, a freshman, hadn't scored in five of his past six games.
"Either I took the 3s, or we'd keep getting down and down and down," Howard said. "I was thinking `win' at the time."
Tech was, too, but neither team did anything about it for nearly four minutes. The score stayed 59-52 from 4:33 to 47.4 seconds left as the Hokies missed four free throws - two on the front end of one-and-ones.
UNCC, however, unraveled. Jermain Parker airballed a turnaround jumper; freshman Shanderic Downs charged into Tech's Don Corker; Downs bricked a driving jumper; Howard missed a long 3-pointer; and Downs dribbled the ball off one of his feet for a turnover.
by CNB