Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: ASHEVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
An upbeat basketball season ended on a downbeat note Thursday night for VMI.
Emmanuel Christophe had career highs with 23 points and 15 rebounds as Georgia Southern broke out of a month-long slump to dump the Keydets 94-71 in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament.
VMI (10-17) won as many games during the regular season as it had in the previous two seasons combined, and coach Bart Bellairs was named the league's best Thursday by his peers. But in the tournament, where the Keydets upset Marshall last season, VMI struggled.
Georgia Southern (8-19), the fifth seed in the five-team South Division, broke a seven-game skid that included the entire month of February. The Eagles meet two-time defending champion Tennessee-Chattanooga at noon today.
``We played flat in the first half and Georgia Southern shot well,'' Bellairs said. ``We didn't have intensity in the first half, and when we finally got it in the second half, we were exhausted from the effort.''
The Eagles, who have won all of their first-round games since entering the Southern Conference three seasons ago, took a 16-point halftime lead by shooting 55 percent and slowing the Keydets, who came into the game averaging 80 points.
The lead reached 23 points 31/2 minutes into the second half, before the Keydets staged a comeback, closing to 62-54 with 9:31 left.
But after a 20-second timeout by Eagles coach Doug Durham, Dante Gay and Christophe each made a pair of free throws, Christophe added a shot in the lane and Georgia Southern built the margin back to 20 with a 16-4 run.
``We forgot what brought us back when we did make the run,'' Bellairs said. ``We forgot that we had to rebound and play defense and started dribbling the ball too much.''
Gay added 22 points for the Eagles, and Lonnie Edwards also scored 22.
``It has been one bad thing after another'' this season, said Durham, whose club shot 59 percent, including 63 percent in the second half. ``We were looking over our shoulder saying, `What is coming next?'''
``We have had practices during the year where its been three-on-three with one sub. We had one practice where I had to practice. You know we're not getting any better when that happens.''
Lawrence Gullette led the Keydets with 13 points. Guard Bryan Taueg, a member of the conference's All-Freshman team, scored 11 points.
Junior guard Bobby Prince, a former Lord Botetourt High School standout, added nine points, seven assists, two turnovers and two steals. He finished the season with school records of 173 assists and 65 steals.
Georgia Southern, which had lost 11 of 12, closed the first half with an 11-0 run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Tim Heath to take a 46-30 lead.
Christophe, a junior college transfer, made nine of 11 shots from the field and was 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. His previous highs were 18 points and 12 rebounds, each in the past two games.
Bellairs said the loss provided a lesson for his young Keydets.
``All year long we've been underdogs most of the time,'' VMI's first-year coach said. `` ... Now what we have to do is handle somewhat the level of success and keep building on it, because VMI is not going to be one of those teams that people will take lightly next year.''
by CNB