ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
The nation's 12th-ranked club - at least that's what the pollsters say the Hokies are - treaded into North Philly and promptly got knocked over the head Sunday.
When they left McGonigle Hall after taking a 57-41 haymaker from Temple, there was some good news for the roughed-up Hokies: The bus they were to take to Philadelphia International Airport wasn't sitting on blocks.
When Bill Foster jokingly mentioned a couple weeks ago that ``you might want to hide the women and children for [the Temple game] because it's going to be ugly,'' the Tech coach couldn't have dreamed it was going to be this ugly.
And just how ugly was it?
For starters, Tech's 41 points marked its lowest output in a game since the 1966-67 season, when the Hokies lost 43-33 at East Carolina.
Need more ugliness? Well, how about Tech's shooting? The Hokies, a good shooting team not long ago, made a season-low 16 field goals on 52 shots, which computed to another season-low of 30.8 percent.
Afterward, Foster summed up his thoughts with one line: ``I'll probably burn my copy of this [tape].''
Speaking of burning stuff, Foster confessed that maybe it has come time for somebody to take a torch to somebody's rear end. The Hokies are 20-4 overall and 11-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, but it's readily apparent all is not well with this club.
``No doubt about it,'' said Foster, ``we've got to gear it up ... and soon. If we're going to make the [NCAA Tournament] and make some noise, we're going to have to push it up.
``We're simply not big enough to get it done without a lot of emotion. We need more spark from somewhere.''
Tech had nothing but duds for Temple (16-11, 11-4), which moved a step closer to its seventh consecutive NCAA berth.
The Owls' big, wide bodies inside - 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward Derrick Battie and 6-10, 270-pound center Marc Jackson - owned the paint. Battie had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, while Jackson had 14 points and seven boards.
Six-foot-seven forward Lynard Stewart had 13 points, meaning Temple's starting front line outscored the Hokies, 42-41.
Ace Custis, Tech's inside marquee guy, was 0-for-6 from the floor in the first half and failed to score. He finished with only three field goals and six points.
Custis didn't get much in the way of help, either. For the first time in recent memory, no Tech player scored in double figures. Travis Jackson and Damon Watlington led Tech with nine points each.
``I feel like I played a terrible game today,'' Custis said. ``I couldn't hit the open shot when I got it. If I could have made a few shots, it would have opened up some things down low for us.
``Forty-one points ... that's miserable looking up on the board and seeing that for a game.''
No doubt. In its previous 23 games, Tech had scored 41 or more points 13 times - in a half.
Tech got plenty of open looks at the basket in the first half, but couldn't make any shots. After taking a 10-4 lead in the game's first seven minutes, the Hokies shot the ball the rest of the half like they had been sprayed in the face with mace.
In the next five minutes, Tech missed its next nine shots and Jackson missed two free throws. Meanwhile, Temple was running off 14 straight points to take an eight-point lead.
Despite missing 17 of its last 21 shots of the half, Tech went to the locker room only down seven (25-18). Not bad, said Foster, considering Tech's front court starters were a combined 2-of-16 for four points.
``I was happy with the way we played the first half except for the shooting part of it,'' Foster said. ``We were still in the game.''
Not for long, however. The Owls, working at will inside and on the baseline, blew it open to 40-26 after Battie scored on a putback with 12:37 left.
Tech never got closer than 11 again. The Owls led by as many as 19 (54-35) with 2:26 left.
The Hokies, whose previous low scoring output this season came in a 64-47 loss at George Washington, couldn't handle John Chaney's vaunted matchup zone defense in the final 20 minutes. Tech looked in offensive disarray the entire half. The normally sure-handed Watlington turned the ball over twice in one span of 30 seconds, while guard Shawn Good heaved one pass into the fourth row of the McGonigle bleachers.
``It's hard to play that Temple defense for the first time,'' Foster said. ``They're very unique in what they do. It's not so much it's a zone, but it's the Temple zone.''
Chaney, whose club annually is among the nation's tops in scoring defense and opponents' field-goal percentage, said Tech shouldn't fret too much over this one.
``It's not easy for anybody to come play against our defense,'' Chaney said. ``This isn't your normal man-to-man or conventional 2-3 zone. It's difficult for 'em, I'm sure.
``Don't worry about Tech. They'll go right back to business as usual - and that's winning games - between now and the next time we see them.''
Foster hopes so. Tech has two more regular-season games - Xavier at home on Thursday and at Dayton on Saturday - before the A-10 Tournament on March 6-9.
The Hokies, who with the loss fell one-half game behind George Washington in the A-10 West, like to think they're NCAA-bound no matter what happens between now and Selection Sunday.
``Hopefully, we are,'' Foster said. ``I've been telling 'em all the hay is not in the barn yet. Who knows? I don't.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for socres.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Temple's Marc Jackson (left) goes up for a shot overby CNBTech's Shawn Good (right) and Travis Jackson.