ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
As they've ambled in and out of the Bast Center this season, one Old Dominion Athletic Conference coach after another has said the same thing - Roanoke College's men's basketball team has the best personnel in the league.
Bridgewater coach Bill Leatherman added his name to the list on Thursday night after the Maroons trounced his Eagles 97-67.
``Far and away,'' Leatherman said. ``They're so deep.''
Opposing talent hasn't concerned Bridgewater to this point. The Eagles (15-6 overall, 11-4 ODAC) held a comfortable first-place league lead coming into the game, but tonight, the Maroons (14-4, 9-4) took a big piece out of it. Roanoke is one-half game out of second place and only one game behind Bridgewater.
``This puts the race right up for grabs,'' said Roanoke coach Page Moir.
The Maroons actually trailed for the first eight minutes as Bridgewater made five 3-pointers.
``Thankfully as the game went on, they didn't hit many of those,'' Moir said.
By halftime the Maroons were ahead by 20. Roanoke center Tim Braun, who played high school basketball just up the road from Bridgewater at Turner Ashby, did much of the work, making seven of eight shots for 14 first-half points.
``Every time I got the ball, I shot it and it went in for me,'' Braun said. The Maroons shot 61 percent in the first half and 55 percent for the game. Bridgewater shot 39 percent overall, missing many easy ones.
``They scorched it,'' Leatherman said. ``We missed unbelievable shots.''
In the second half, Bridgewater's fortunes worsened.
A Courtney Fitch steal and layup with 7:18 to play gave Roanoke its largest lead, 89-53. There weren't any positives for Leatherman to speak of.
``None,'' he said. ``And I mean N-U-N none. We didn't have a prayer.''
A few seconds later, he found one. ``The only positive I saw was when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw three zeroes on the clock.''
The Maroons outrebounded the Eagles 23-11 in the first half and 44-35 for the game. Jon Maher led Roanoke with 10 and Braun had seven, including four on the offensive end. Leatherman said the Maroons' ability to rebound and turn them into points was the factor that really ruined it for the Eagles.
``When you take the ball off the rim instead of taking it out of bounds, you can run your offense a lot better,'' Moir said.
Point guard Nathan Hungate, No.2 in the ODAC in assists, had 10 for the Maroons, tying a season-high. Jason Bishop led all scorers with 16 points.
He was one of three Roanoke players (Michael Ball and Dan Riley were the others) out with the flu during the Jan.10 game at Bridgewater, an 85-81 Maroons loss.
``We were really sick up there,'' Braun said. ``We're healthy now.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB