ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602050083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KINGSTON, R.I.
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Thirteenth-ranked Virginia Tech looked like certain Rhode-kill Saturday.
With 17:53 to play, the Hokies had gone 81/2 minutes without a basket, missing 12 consecutive shots in the process. They trailed by 11 points.
``You had to wonder then if we were going to make it out of this place alive,'' said Tech coach Bill Foster.
Then, presto. The cold-shooting visitors from the South suddenly thawed out in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,885 at Rhode Island's cozy Keaney Gymnasium.
Lifted by strong performances from Damon Watlington and Ace Custis, Tech held on to first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference West Division, turning back upset-minded Rhode Island 72-66 in overtime.
The comeback victory in the Rams' bandbox gym, truly one of the A-10's road potholes, boosted Tech's record to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the league. The Hokies remain a half-game ahead of second-place George Washington in the West. GW beat Temple 64-47 on Saturday.
``We knew how big this game was ... on the road against a tough opponent. We had to knock this one down,'' Custis said.
Watlington and Custis, with some help from Travis Jackson (13 points and eight rebounds) and Shawn Smith (11 points), got it done. That foursome scored all but five of Tech's 72 points.
Watlington, the Hokies' cool shooting guard, buried the Rams (12-7, 4-4) with four second-half 3-point goals en route to a season-high 23 points.
Custis was, well, just the usual Ace. Tech's hard-working junior star had a double-double in the second half - 12 points and 11 rebounds - on his way to matching his season high of 20 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.
Tech, which flew north early on Thursday to beat the winter storm on the East Coast, could have used a snow plow in the first half Saturday. The Hokies got stuck at ``24'' on the scoreboard.
In the final 6:20 of the first half, Tech didn't hit a field goal. Watlington's two free throws with 43.1 seconds left in the half provided the only points for the Hokies, who, accordingly, went to the dressing room down 34-26.
Tech didn't have any reason for optimism, either. Rhode Island, thanks to 7-footer Michael Andersen, had pounded the Hokies 25-16 on the backboards. Andersen had 12 points and nine rebounds. The Rams had 14 points off second-chance opportunities.
``They were just killing us on the glass,'' Custis said.
Things weren't much prettier on Tech's end of the floor. A Hokies team that had shot 50 percent or better in nine of its 17 games hit the mark only 11 times in 31 attempts (35.5 percent).
``We were getting some good shots,'' Smith said, ``but it was like the rim had a lid on it or something.''
After Rhode Island scored the first three points of the second half to go up 37-26, Tech finally responded.
Custis' stick-back with 17:41 left ended Tech's drought. Smith then scored low and drained a 17-footer. Next came back-to-back 3-pointers by Watlington, then a short jumper by Jackson.
After missing 12 consecutive shots, Tech had made six in a row and led 40-39 with 13:49 left.
The lead changed hands four times in the next six minutes before the Hokies drew out to a 59-54 lead after Smith's two free throws with 3:08 left.
But Rhode Island wasn't done yet. Freshman Antonio Reynolds drove the lane to make it 59-56, then after a Smith miss, Preston Murphy canned a 3-pointer to tie it with 2:02 left.
Neither team scored again in regulation. Rhode Island had its shot with 11 seconds left, but Murphy misfired badly on a 3-point try.
The Hokies had two chances in the final four seconds, but Shawn Smith's 12-foot baseline jumper missed. Custis, owning the lane, got a hand on the ball, but his tip-in effort rolled off the rim at the buzzer.
``It was ready to go, but it didn't fall,'' Custis said.
In overtime, Tech ruled. Watlington, who was 5-for-6 from 3-point range, hit from beyond the arc to open the scoring. The Hokies, finding cracks with crisp passing, got baskets from Smith and Custis to lead 66-61 with 1:58 left.
After the Rams cut it to three on Chad Thomas' layup, Watlington hit two free throws with 37.1 seconds left to make it 68-63.
Any chance the Rams had at staying unbeaten in Keaney - they were 5-0 before Saturday - went down the tubes when Tyson Wheeler missed a 3-pointer, got the ball back and saw another 3-pointer partially blocked by Watlington. The ball bounced into the hands of Shawn Good, who put it away with a resounding breakaway slam.
Murphy hit a 3-pointer to make it 70-66 with 5.9 seconds left, but Tech got the ball inbounds to Custis, whose two free throws with 4.5 seconds left provided the final margin.
``We kept hanging in and we pulled it out,'' said Smith. ``To tell you the truth, we were just happy to be in the game after the first half. We were down and the crowd had really gotten into it.''
Foster said his club got into it in the second half and overtime.
``We were a step slow in the first half,'' Foster said. ``I think getting down at halftime kind of got our attention. It's all enthusiasm ... it's a mental thing. We're not big enough, tough enough, ugly enough to play without enthusiasm.
``If we work, our stuff works. If we don't work, our stuff don't work.''
While the Hokies had more than their share of anxious moments, everything worked out for them Saturday.
If the game had gone to a second overtime period, the Hokies likely would have missed their 5:30 p.m. plane home out of Providence.
``We sure didn't want to stay up here longer than we did,'' said Foster, rushing his players to the bus some 15 minutes following the game.
``Two days in the snow. It's still cold. It's time to go home.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB