ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
North Carolina-Greensboro comes into its last Big South Conference men's basketball tournament reeling like a man who's taken a sharp blow to the head.
The defending champions have lost six of seven as they come staggering into Liberty University's Vines Center for today's opening round of the tournament.
Yes, the Spartans ought to be ripe for the quarterfinal picking of opponent Radford University, on a roll with victories in five of its past seven games.
Ron Bradley, Radford's coach, doesn't believe it for a millisecond. He's seen what these Spartans can do.
Sixth-seeded UNCG's lone victory in its past seven outings was against none other than Radford. The Spartans (10-19) roughed up the Highlanders (14-12) substantially in a 77-67 victory Feb.13.
``When we have shot the ball well, we have been very good,'' said Randy Peele, the Spartans' coach.
UNCG, which leaves the league after this season to join the Southern Conference, shot well against Radford the last time, canning 57.7 percent of its shots. The Highlanders, on the other hand, managed a 40.3 percent accuracy rate with starters Corey Reed, Kevin Robinson and Eric Bowens going a composite 5-for-21.
``They handled us very easily,'' Bradley said. ``Their perimeter players were almost able to score at will.''
Predictably, the two lapses in third-seeded Radford's late-season turnaround were the result of faulty defense. The Highlanders had an awful time defending Liberty on Saturday, especially early, when the Flames rolled to a 14-point lead while shooting 54 percent from the floor and 59 percent (10-of-17) from 3-point range.
``There were a lot of similarities'' between the loss to UNCG and the one to Liberty, Bradley said. ``If we don't execute our defensive system correctly, it really opens up a lot of things for the opponent.''
When things opened up for the Spartans against Radford, those who did the most damage included Tony Daughtry with 20 points and Derrick Nix and Jeremy Davis with a combined 33.
The tournament has a new format this year because for the first time, the conference women's tournament is being held at the same site as the men's event.
Today in the men's tournament, North Carolina-Asheville plays Maryland-Baltimore County at noon, Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina meet at 2 p.m., Radford and UNCG clash at 6 p.m. and Liberty and Winthrop meet at 8 p.m.
The women's tournament starts Thursday with UNC Greensboro and UMBC playing at noon, Charleston Southern and Radford at 2 p.m., UNCA and Winthrop meeting at 6 p.m. and Liberty and Coastal playing the 8 p.m. nightcap.
The semifinals of both tournaments will be Friday and the finals Saturday.
Radford's men are likely to have the same starting five against UNCG as against Liberty last week. That means little-used center Mike Petin and freshman guard Rian Everett will be in the lineup along with regulars Anthony Walker, Eric Bowens and Corey Reed.
Robinson broke out of a mild slump with 10 points and 10 rebounds (seven offensive) against Liberty. Robinson is one of the main reasons Radford has become a better rebounding team in the second half of the season.
``You realize that you can't score if you don't have the ball,'' he said. ``Rebounding is the first step in both offense and defense.''
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Reed, Robinson.by CNB