ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
As Bart Bellairs said, ``You don't get lucky to go 20-3.''
Luck also had very little to do with Davidson's 21st victory of the season, which came Monday night at the expense of Bellairs' VMI basketball team.
How did Davidson paste Bellairs' Keydets 95-76 at Cameron Hall? With discipline, balance, aggressiveness and savvy.
And the Wildcats also were good enough to convincingly put an end to VMI's home-court winning streak at 12 games this season.
Davidson had six scorers in double figures, led by forward Ray Minlend's 19 points. Brandon Williams scored his average, 18, and Quinn Harwood and Chris Alpert each had 15.
``They're a great, great basketball team,'' Bellairs said. ``We didn't play well tonight, but Davidson had a little bit to do with that. They're so physical.''
The Wildcats, whose last defeat was an 82-70 loss to Michigan on Dec.30, shot 55 percent from the floor and forced the Keydets into 23 fouls while running their conference record to 12-0.
No Southern Conference team has run the table without a loss in the past 21 years. This is the second Davidson team to win as many as 21 games in a season. The Terry Holland-coached 1969-70 team went 22-5. Holland, now the athletic director at Virginia, watched Monday's game from press row.
VMI, which had won seven consecutive games since falling to Davidson 86-79 in January, saw its record drop to 15-8, 8-4.
``Things just didn't go right tonight,'' said Keydets freshman Brent Conley, who led VMI with 18 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
Monday night was senior night for VMI's five outgoing players, but it was the freshman who kept the Keydets within striking distance.
When Conley fouled out, attempting to steal an inbounds pass with 6:17 left, the Wildcats' lead was eight points (76-68). Conley gathered his teammates around him before leaving the court.
``I told them to keep playing hard, that the game wasn't over,'' said Conley, who had scored 20 points in each of his three previous games.
But the Wildcats dominated the game after Conley's exit, running their advantage to 16 (86-70) in less than three minutes.
``It was just a wonderful experience to come and play so well in front of such an excited crowd,'' said Bob McKillop, Davidson's coach. ``I was impressed with our ability to pull it out at the end.''
The crowd of 3,975 was the third largest in Cameron Hall history.
The Keydets, who led only three times in the first half, never could draw closer than one point (49-48) after halftime. Lawrence Gullette finished with 13 points for VMI, and Lester Johnson and Andre Quarles each added 10.
The Keydets dug a hole early. Seniors Larry Osborne and Howard Byrd, making honorary starts for the only time this season, each turned over the ball during the first minute of play.
The turnovers seemed to be contagious, as a team the Keydets had seven by the 16:02 mark, and trailed 10-5. VMI took the lead briefly at 13-12 on a Conley 3-pointer, but when he picked up his second foul seven seconds later, things looked bleak for the Keydets.
``The refs were calling it pretty tight tonight,'' Conley said.
But Bellairs shuffled his lineup craftily, spelling Gullette and Conley as much as possible. VMI got seven first-half points from Quarles, a 3 from Bryan Taueg, and a stick-back from Osborne, keeping VMI close.
Davidson opened its largest lead (37-29) of the first half when Alpert hit his second 3-pointer of the game, but the Keydets closed to 43-40 at intermission.
The 3-point shooting percentages were extraordinary. Davidson finished 9-of-15 (60 percent), while VMI made eight of 18 (44.4 percent). Neither team shot as well inside the 3-point arc.
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB