ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602130021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CINCINNATI
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
MEMO: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
When the bus carrying the Virginia Tech men's basketball team pulled into Cincinnati Gardens on Saturday, the Hokies had to figure they were in good shape against Xavier.
After all, an ESPN truck was parked in the lot, too.
For Tech, that's been an unbeatable omen over the past 14 months. And it produced again Saturday.
Making it 9-for-9 on games televised by ESPN or ESPN2 since Dec. 10, 1994, 11th-ranked Tech staved off Xavier 78-73 in front of a crowd of 10,118.
``We just love seeing ESPN show up,'' said Chris Ferguson, a Tech assistant coach. ``That usually means something good is going to happen for us.''
Good things just keep happening for these Hokies. Tech's sixth consecutive victory boosted its record to 18-2 overall and 10-1 in the Atlantic 10. It's the first Tech team in history to win 18 of its 20 games in a season.
The Musketeers (9-11, 5-5) didn't go without a scrap, however. After trailing by 12 points with 4 1/2 minutes left, Xavier went on a 17-7 run and closed to 70-68 when freshman Lenny Brown hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 46 seconds to play.
But the Hokies, following their season-long script, had the game's final rebuttal.
Senior Damon Watlington, who led Tech with 23 points, hit two free throws with 42.4 seconds left to put Tech up by four. After Xavier's Gary Lumpkin was called for a charge, Shawn Smith cashed in two free throws to put Tech up 74-68 with 29.9 seconds left.
After Brown, who had 19 of his 21 points in the second half, canned a 3-pointer to make it 74-71 with :22 showing, Tech finished it off at the line, getting two free throws each from Shawn Good and Smith.
``Once again we can't put a team away once we had 'em down,'' said Ace Custis, who had 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
``We can't put 'em away. That's just Hokie basketball, I guess. We have the killer instinct, but when we get up our shots aren't falling.
``We keep it interesting for everybody, including ourselves. It's [a] good thing this team has the composure to win the close games.''
While Tech hasn't been able to apply the hammer to people, it just keeps winning. Tech, a 3 1/2-point favorite, won on a court where Xavier was 158-20 (89 percent) since 1983-84.
``And that's all that matters,'' said Roanoker Troy Manns, who had six points and three assists in 19 solid minutes off the bench.
``I'm just thinking all the teams in this conference are real good. I don't think we're going to blow anybody out. As long as we win - by two or by 20 - that's all that counts.''
The Musketeers, who despite starting three freshmen pushed top-ranked Massachusetts into overtime at the Gardens last Sunday, would like to learn Tech's act. Coach Skip Prosser's club fell to 1-7 this season in games decided by eight points or fewer. The Musketeers had a chance to win in the final minute of their past four losses.
``It's been like that all year,'' said Xavier sophomore forward T.J. Johnson, a former player at Oak Hill Academy.
``We're always there at the end ... and then they take it.''
The Hokies will take it any way they can get it, especially in a place where they were smoked 85-52 two years ago.
``Xavier really put it to us and we hadn't forgotten that,'' Custis said. ``We knew what we were coming into today.''
Of course, the Hokies were calmed somewhat by the sight of their good-luck charm - the bright lights of ESPN.
``Anytime you go on national TV,'' said Custis, ``you've got to play well if you want to continue to be on there. And whenever we've got this opportunity to get this exposure, we've got to take advantage of it. Before the game, we were like `Everybody is watching, you've got to play well if you want to get some respect.'''
After a home date with Liberty University on Tuesday, Tech's success run on ESPN will be severely tested Feb.17 when top-ranked UMass invades Cassell Coliseum at noon.
``That game is on ESPN?'' Manns asked. ``That's probably a good omen for us.''
Tech coach Bill Foster certainly is not oblivious to the scenario of taking on UMass on his favorite sports channel.
``I think it's good for us,'' Foster said. ``Our guys are sort of superstitious and funny about things like that. We've won every game on ESPN for two years, so it can't hurt.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP Virginia Tech's Damon Watlington dunks overby CNBXavier's Kevin Carr on Saturday at the Cincinnati Gardens.
Watlington scored 23 points to lead the Hokies to an Atlantic 10
victory. color
2. AP Tech's Shawn Good draws a foul from Xavier's Lenny Brown
(left) during their Atlantic 10 game Saturday in Cincinnati. KEYWORDS: BASKETBALL