ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260096
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Talk about a case of capital punishment.
Virginia Tech's high-struttin', eighth-ranked men's basketball team wandered into the nation's capital Thursday night and wound up getting mugged.
Proving what many have said all along - Tech can't be the nation's eighth-best team - George Washington grounded the high-flying Hokies in a 64-47 blowout in front of a sellout crowd of 5,454 at the Smith Center.
In suffering its first Atlantic 10 Conference loss ever and seeing its nine-game winning streak shredded, Tech (12-2 overall, 5-1 conference) posted season lows for points and field-goal shooting (37 percent) and committed a season-high 19 turnovers.
If that wasn't bad enough, the Hokies also failed to make a 3-point field goal for the first time since the rule took effect with the 1986-87 season. Tech, 0-for-8 from 3-point range, had made at least one basket from beyond the arc in 277 straight games.
``If you play enough games, you're going to [get] waxed sometime,'' said Tech coach Bill Foster. ``I just think it's going to happen.
``They all just count [as] one [loss], though. Losses tend to make you better. We didn't play well at Georgia [Tech's first loss] and we came back and won nine in a row.
``We got our butts kicked here, so now we can do it again. And I believe we will.''
Foster had a hard time believing anything he saw Thursday. His Hokies could do little right against a GW club it had beaten 79-71 in Roanoke 10 nights earlier.
Tech might have been a big hit on the national charts coming to town, but it couldn't steal the stage from Alexander Koul and the gang on this night.
``We played 40 minutes this time,'' said satisfied GW coach Mike Jarvis. ``You can't win when you play 20 minutes like we did [in Roanoke]. That was the main difference.''
The Colonials (10-4, 4-1), who came from 15 points down to take the lead late in Roanoke before losing, never had to work up a sweat this time.
The rattled Hokies made only five of their first 19 shots and trailed 25-13 after GW's J.J. Brade kissed an eight-footer off the glass with 4:33 left in the first half.
``We were in the Twilight Zone offensively,'' Foster said.
Still, Tech went to the locker room at halftime down only 29-25 thanks to a 10-2 run to close the half.
``It's hard for me to see how we stayed as close as we did,'' Foster said, ``especially as inept as we were playing.
``It was amazing we were down only four. It should have been 24. I told the guys at halftime that they couldn't play worse, but little did I know ... ''
In the final 20 minutes, Tech never was in it. The Hokies' frustration was shown with 17:41 left when Damon Watlington blew a dunk at one end, only to see GW hustle the ball back for a Kwame Evans 3-pointer. Instead of being down seven, the Hokies were down 12.
Tech never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
Shawn Smith paced the Hokies with 15 points, while Ace Custis had only three baskets en route to 10 points.
"They got us down early and they kept us down,'' said Custis of the Colonials. "We just played a terrible game.
Custis said Tech doesn't care about the national polls. The Hokies were ranked an all-time high eighth in this week's Associated Press poll.
``We don't care if people say we're overrated,'' Custis said. ``No.8 sounded good, but it doesn't mean a thing when you get out on the court.''
Evans led GW with 13 points despite 5-of-18 shooting. Koul, GW's 7-foot, 300-pound center, had 12 points and eight rebounds.
``I thought we did a pretty good job on those two,'' Foster said. ``At least they didn't kill us like they did last time.''
Tech surprisingly outrebounded GW 41-37, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome all its other deficiencies.
"Sometimes your tank runs low,'' said Foster. "It's like a golfer. One day you shoot in the 70s and the next day you're shanking everything you hit.''
Well, this one was a shank, all right. A horrid shank.
``Believe me,'' said Foster, ``somebody will pay for this one.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB