ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601220102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
Like it has before this season, Roanoke College's men's basketball team let a large lead slip away.
Only this time, it couldn't do anything about it.
Randolph-Macon started making 3-pointers like they were layups in the second half to overcome a 17-point Maroons lead. But unlike the past, Roanoke's players - particularly Kevin Sigafoes, Nathan Hungate and Jason Bishop - did not let it bother them on the way to an 85-83 victory at the Bast Center.
In truth, the game didn't deserve a fate like a double-figure final margin; not with all the smooth and pretty plays.
``It wasn't as much as we lost the lead as they fought back,'' Maroons coach Page Moir said of the Yellow Jackets. ``If the outcome had been different, I wouldn't have blamed it on our guys.''
He instead could have pointed to Randolph-Macon, which played more like a long distance company than a basketball team in the second half. The Yellow Jackets made five of seven 3-pointers to actually pull ahead 77-75 with 2:43 remaining.
Led by star senior point guard Kurt Axe, who made five of nine, Randolph-Macon made its last four 3-point attempts and finished 10-of-22 on the day.
``Today we were trading twos for threes,'' Moir said. ``When you're doing that, a lead fades in a hurry.''
But a trio of Maroons made sure Roanoke didn't fade completely. Hungate, a Northside High School graduate, got the lead back with 1:40 to go when he cut through for a layup and drew a foul.
He stayed close to Axe on the way back, but he couldn't have been close enough. Axe snapped off his final trey of the day with 1:21 to go to tie it at 80.
``He's one of the most intense players I've ever seen on any level any year,'' Yellow Jackets coach Hal Nunnally said of Axe, who hung 31 on the Maroons in the second half of their Dec.5 meeting. ``This loss will haunt him until we play again.''
``I'm glad to see him graduate,'' Moir added.
With the score tied and :43 to play, Bishop, much like Hungate before, attacked the defense and fed off to Sigafoes, who laid it in for an 82-80 lead with no time on the shot clock. ``I knew he was going to throw it to me,'' said Sigafoes, who added that extra work in recent early mornings helped him get his team-high 16 points.
Sigafoes missed the front end of a 1-and-1 the next time down, but Hungate got the rebound and made two free throws. The importance of those tosses was most evident when Yellow Jacket forward Matt Meehan made a 3-pointer with seven seconds left.
``Nathan played down the stretch as you hope a point guard would be able to play,'' Moir said.
By capturing the victory, Roanoke (11-3, 6-3) pulled into a tie for third place in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference with Randolph-Macon (9-6, 6-3).
Sigafoes made four of seven 3-pointers to earn most of his points. Bishop followed with 15, Tim Braun had 12 and Derek Bryant and Hungate had 11 and 10, respectively.
Axe led the Yellow Jackets with 23 and Meehan had 22.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB