ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602140016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
JOE CANTAFIO watches his old team trounce his new one 83-57.
Joe Cantafio has spent more than a decade studying VMI basketball. Unfortunately for the Furman coach, many of his players have spent less than a decade playing the game.
Cantafio, who left an inexperienced VMI team two seasons ago, brought an even less-experienced Furman team to Cameron Hall on Monday night and left on the short end of an 83-57 score. (Box score in Scoreboard. B3)
A Keydets team made up of four starters Cantafio recruited showed their old coach he made the right decision in pursuing them.
``That's the best basketball team I've seen at VMI in a long time,'' said Cantafio, an assistant or head coach in Lexington from 1982-1994.
The game gave Cantafio a perspective unlike any he'd seen in all those years. He had the odd experience of sitting on a different bench and dressing in a different locker room. He just didn't want it to rub off on his players.
``I'd never been in there before,'' he said, looking at the locker room door. ``But most of the kids on my team don't even know I was here.''
That's mainly because his five starters include four freshmen and a sophomore.
It showed as the game wore on. Although half of VMI's team has dealt with the flu in the past week, it caught its breath enough in the second half to go on a 12-0 run and put what was a fairly close game out of reach at 68-46. The Keydets accomplished that in a two-minute stretch that included two VMI steals, one missed shot and two Furman 10-second violations.
``That's conditioning,'' said VMI coach Bart Bellairs, who Sunday led his well-oiled military machine through a light practice. ``We didn't do anything yesterday but walk through and drink water.''
The fluids must have done the trick for senior forward Lawrence Gullette, who ignored his flu symptoms and scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He also led the Keydets with nine rebounds.
``I'm not completely over it, but I'm feeling better,'' he said.
Gullette also said he wasn't feeling any butterflies with the man who recruited him at the other end of the floor. Speaking of Cantafio, Gullette said, "I think it was a change for the better for both parties."
VMI's record certainly concurs. The Keydets (13-7 overall, 6-3 Southern Conference) have won 10 straight games at home and 15 of their past 16.
Furman fell to 8-14, 4-5 in the league.
The Keydets have won five in a row for the first time since 1978-79 and are in second place in the Southern Conference's North Division, one game ahead of Marshall.
A year older, the Keydets bore no resemblance to the team that rode its frazzled nerves to a 60-59 loss at Furman last year. This time they didn't have to impress their old coach.
``Last year down there, they were trying to beat Joe Cantafio,'' said Bellairs. ``Tonight, I think our focus was on the Furman team."
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB