ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603110033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
WHILE THE HOKIES await their NCAA Tournamen bid on Sunday, they must put another disappointing conference tournament preformance behind them.
After its latest abbreviated stay at a conference tournament, Virginia Tech's men's basketball team has to be questioning itself.
Thursday's 77-71 loss to underdog Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals certainly wasn't what Tech had in mind as it heads into its first NCAA Tournament in 10 years.
As they packed up and flew home Friday, the Hokies had to wonder if they can put this puzzle back together.
``It's disappointing, no doubt,'' said Shawn Good, a senior guard. ``In order for this team to win, it has to do the little things right, and we just didn't do that.''
Tech (22-5) buried itself against Rhode Island (18-12).
The Hokies began pitching dirt on themselves early, with a woeful first-half performance that left them trailing 37-27 at halftime. Tech's leading scorers - Ace Custis, Damon Watlington and Shawn Smith - were the primary culprits. The trio was a combined 1-for-12 from the floor for a total of three points in the first half.
Custis, whose pattern of struggling in Tech's biggest games continued, was 0-for-4 from the field and scored one point in the first half. He had one rebound in 17 minutes.
``He just didn't get anything done the first half,'' coach Bill Foster said of his marquee player.
While Custis answered the bell offensively in the second half, scoring 13 points and collecting 10 rebounds, he gave it all back on the defensive end. Rhode Island's 6-foot-8 Antonio Reynolds, the Atlantic 10 freshman of the year, made toast of Custis' defense, free-wheeling for 14 second-half points and capping an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double night.
Watlington, Tech's most consistent player all season, sprained his right foot only four minutes into the game and never got going. He failed to score in 12 first-half minutes, and his only basket on seven shots was a 3-point goal with 13:28 left in the game.
On the defensive end, Watlington encountered rare troubles, too. Rams sophomore guard Tyson Wheeler lit up Watlington and Troy Manns for 18 points.
Smith, who had come on strong recently for Tech, had only two points before taking a strong whack in the lane from 6-8, 240-pound freshman forward David Arigbabu with 6:43 left in the half. Smith sustained a mild separation of his left shoulder and left the game. He returned for seven minutes in the second half but was ineffective. The 6-6 senior finished with two points on 1-of-5 shooting.
``When we're 5-for-22 from our top scorers, we have a hard time offensively getting the numbers up that we need,'' Foster noted. ``There's no explanation for it because I know our kids wanted to play well. We just didn't play as hard and tough the first half as we needed to.''
Thanks to Good and center Travis Jackson, Tech still had a chance to win, however.
Good had a monster game, collecting a season-high 21 points and eight rebounds. Jackson came up huge, hitting eight of 13 shots en route to matching his career high of 17 points. The 6-8 senior, often maligned for his rebounding work, had his second-best production of the season, grabbing nine misses.
The Hokies, trailing 42-29 two minutes into the second half, rode a 30-16 spurt to go ahead 59-58 on Good's dunk with 8:10 remaining.
But Rhode Island wouldn't go away. Down the stretch, coach Al Skinner's young, athletic club did the things necessary to win. Meanwhile, the Hokies crumbled at crunch time to lose a close game for the first time this season.
``It's really hard to get down early,'' Jackson said. "I think having to come from so far down took a lot out of us.''
Afterward, an emotional Foster, perhaps seeing a much-ballyhooed season slipping away, spent an inordinate amount of time in the locker room consoling his troops. The veteran coach sent assistant Bobby Hussey to handle his post-game radio show.
Foster tried his best to put a positive spin on what had happened in his post-game media conference. He tried to accentuate the positives, like Tech's 41-26 rebounding edge and the second-half comeback that fell short.
``We're not going to turn this into some kind of doomsday deal,'' Foster said.
When asked about the mindset of a team that's now lost three of its past six games, Foster said: ``No problem. It's not like we've lost to some dogs. Hey, Rhode Island is not dog meat.''
Now, the Hokies wait for Sunday afternoon, when they will find out their NCAA Tournament destination and seed.
``Come Sunday, we hope we get a seed somewhere,'' Custis said. "Hopefully, we've got a lot of basketball left ahead of us. Starting now, there's no more room for error.''
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Virginia Tech's Myron Guillory pressures Rhodeby CNBIsland's Preston Murphy (right) on Thursday in Philadelphia. color.