ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Virginia continued its march toward the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season men's basketball championship Monday night with an ...
Oops, the Cavaliers don't belong to the CAA.
Leading scorer Harold Deane didn't have a point, but Virginia had little trouble running its record to 4-0 against CAA teams with an 87-49 victory over Old Dominion at University Hall.
It was the worst loss since 1987 for ODU, which won the CAA championship last season, upset Villanova in the NCAA Tournament and had won nine of 11 games before Saturday night.
``It's obvious what happened,'' said ODU coach Jeff Capel, whose Monarchs saw their record drop to 12-11. ``We got taken to the woodshed and got a spanking. Virginia took its game to a level where we couldn't go.''
The Cavaliers were clinging to a 14-12 lead with less than nine minutes in the first half before they embarked on a 23-2 run. Much of the damage was done with Deane, their starting point guard, on the bench.
Deane left the floor somewhat innocently with 7:33 left in the half and there was no indication he was injured until he removed his left shoe. It later was reported he had sprained his big toe.
Virginia coach Jeff Jones said Deane could have returned to the lineup, if needed, in the second half. However, the margin only became more ridiculous. The Cavaliers, up 41-17, opened the second half with a 6-0 flurry that made it a 30-point game with 18:56 remaining.
``There's no way I thought they could play this good without [Deane] in there,'' said Old Dominion center Odell Hodge of Martinsville, held to six points after scoring 20 and 23 in two previous games against the Cavaliers.
Hodge was 3-for-10 in the first half, missed his first shot of the second half and came out of the game after two minutes, not to return. The ODU starters were 7-of-36 from the field, including 0-for-14 from 3-point range.
Virginia, coming off a 64-59 victory at Florida State on Saturday, came out in a diamond-and-one defense for the second consecutive game. However, unlike the FSU game, the Cavaliers played virtually no man-to-man.
``I don't know when we've played so much zone,'' said Jones, a man-to-man advocate. ``I know we've never played this much `diamond.' We played it the entire second half.''
After shooting 55.6 percent in the first half, the Cavaliers cooled to 40.9 in the second half, but nobody noticed. UVa had 15 offensive rebounds in the second half and outrebounded the Monarchs 54-35 for the game.
Virginia freshman Courtney Alexander had 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and either led or shared the team lead in all three categories. Junior Jamal Robinson, who ran the team in Deane's absence, had 17 points and seven rebounds.
``I think they got contributions from a lot of people,'' Capel said. ``Personally, the dimension I was afraid of was Jamal Robinson at the point. He caused us a lot of problems with his quickness and penetration.''
For much of the evening, Virginia had a 6-foot-7 point guard and a 7-4 center in Chase Metheney. The redshirt freshman played 22 minutes and had a career-high 11 points, four rebounds and six blocks.
Metheney's three best games have come against CAA teams. He had six points, 12 rebounds and six blocks against William and Mary; then, he had four points, nine rebounds and a block against Virginia Commonwealth.
``I never even thought about the conference connection,'' Metheney said. ``Normally, I have my best games when I get off to a good start. It doesn't have to be that way; if something goes wrong, I have to learn to be patient.''
It was Virginia's 36th consecutive victory over in-state teams at University Hall, where UVa is 59-6 against commonwealth teams. However, the Monarchs beat the Cavaliers two years ago in Norfolk and played them to an 83-80 game here last season.
It was the first time since December that Virginia (9-10) had won back-to-back games. The Cavaliers, after playing for the third time in five days, will be off until they visit North Carolina State on Thursday night.
Jones said he expects Deane to be available because ``it's just a little pain and he's not going to let that stop him.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB