ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702100130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
The best line to describe Saturday's Atlantic 10 men's basketball game between Virginia Tech and Fordham?
How about ugly and uglier.
In a game in which all videotape should be sent immediately to the bottom of the East River, Tech survived its first trip to the Bronx, mugging Fordham 50-32.
Tech (13-9 overall, 6-4 A-10) may have been ugly, but Fordham (6-14, 1-9) was uglier. And that's all that counts, the Hokies say.
"Yeah, it's pretty ugly,'' said Tech's David Jackson. "But a win is a win, and that's the bottom line.''
The bottom line Saturday was Fordham. The A-10 East Division cellar-dwellers couldn't have beaten a good high school team the way they shot the ball.
In posting their lowest point total in 47 years, the Rams shot 22.9 percent from the field (11-of-48) and 40 percent from the free-throw line (6-of-15).
Fordham, down 22-17 at halftime, didn't shoot the New York City temperature in the final 20 minutes. Throwing up enough bricks to qualify for their masonry union cards, the Rams were 4-for-26 from the floor (15.4 percent) and went more than 12 minutes in one stretch without a field goal.
"There was absolutely a lid on the basket,'' said Nick Macarchuk, Fordham's coach. "We couldn't make anything. We couldn't even make a free throw.''
While the Hokies didn't exactly knock the lights out at antiquated Rose Hill Gym, shooting 40.4 percent (21-of-52), they did play some defense. Good thing, said Tech coach Bill Foster.
"The last couple weeks we've been kidding about how it looks like we've got to keep people in the 40s to win. I sure hope this is not an omen that we've got to keep somebody in the 30s to win,'' Foster said.
"I'm proud of our defensive effort. But offensively we're still growing. We're not playing as well as we know we can play.''
Nonetheless, the Hokies are winning. Tech's third straight league victory moved it one game behind first-place Xavier in the A-10 West. The Musketeers are 7-3 in the league after losing 79-65 at St. Joseph's on Saturday.
"The race is on, boys,'' Foster said. "We're in a position now where it all could come down to March 2nd'' when Xavier visits Cassell Coliseum in the A-10's regular-season finale.
But unless Tech picks things up on the offensive end, March 2 will mean only one thing - the retiring Foster's last regular-season game.
"We're not making the extra passes we need to make,'' said Jackson, whose 10 points made him the only Hokie to score in in double figures on this points-starved day.
"We're forcing that first option, when we could make an extra two or three passes and get layups. If we want to continue to win, that's one thing we'll have to do, especially on the road.
"I don't think we're fooled. I'm not enthused with how we won.''
Score 50 and win by 18. Only in the A-10, said Tech's Troy Manns.
"I can't remember the last game I've been in when a team scored 32 points,'' said Manns, who three years ago played on a George Mason club that could put 32 on the board in 10 minutes or so.
Tech, which hasn't scored more than 59 points in any of its past eight games, never trailed after a 10-0 run gave it a 16-6 lead midway in the first half.
In the second half, Tech scored the first two hoops and never looked back. No need for that when the bunch you're playing scores three points in 12 minutes.
The Rams' 32 points marked the lowest total scored against the Hokies since 1958-59, when Tech rolled Washington and Lee 105-24.
The Hokies, who beat George Washington 45-43 on Tuesday, have yielded an unheard-of 75 points in their past two games.
"At some point in time,'' said Macarchuk, "I think you have to give Virginia Tech some credit. They're playing very good defense right now.
"I think their defense had a lot to do with the way we played. I think George Washington shot 26 percent the other night, and that's with Alexander Koul, Yegor Mescheriakov and Shawnta Rogers, three prime-time players in our league.
"If they can win 4-2, they will take that.''
Amen, said Tech star Ace Custis, who was held to a season-low seven points.
"If we win, I can take an ugly game, I don't care how ugly it is,'' Custis said. "I'll trade those pretty games in for an ugly game any day, as long as we win.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB