THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260523
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Say this about the Wake Forest Demon Deacons: They don't win games by hocus-pocus or the element of surprise.
When the game gets down to the nitty-gritty, the Deacons give the ball to All-ACC guard Randolph Childress and let him win it or lose it.
Wednesday night Childress took the ball and led the 16th-ranked Deacons (11-3, 4-2) to a 71-70 ACC victory over Virginia for their third straight victory in University Hall.
The loss knocked the 15th-ranked Cavaliers (11-5, 5-2) out of first place in the league for the first time this season.
To a man, the Cavaliers blamed their tumble on Childress. And properly so.
Childress scored 29 points, including 18 of the Deacons' final 20, and a pair of free throws that proved the final difference with 5.7 seconds remaining.
``As long as Randolph Childress is in a Wake Forest uniform, at the end of the game we are going to go to him,'' coach Dave Odom declared.
``If you want to beat us, you are going to have to stop him. He's going to take the last shot. I can't make it any plainer than that.''
Childress, though, denied he won the game by himself.
Sophomore center Tim Duncan beat the Cavaliers to death on the boards and added 15 points before fouling out in the final minutes.
Still, after Childress' go-ahead free throws, the Cavaliers had their chance to snatch another victory out of the fire.
With Cory Alexander covered, Junior Burrough inbounded to Jamal Robinson.
Robinson dribbled unchallenged to the circle, where the Deacons offered only token reistence as he pulled up and took a jump shot that bounced off the rim.
``They couldn't have gotten a better job,'' Childress said. ``He (Robinson) got a good look at the basket and it was just by the grace of God that he didn't make it.''
Robinson felt he did have a good look, too.
``I thought it was going in, but I guess it bounced off the back of the rim,'' he said.
Thus, the only controversy in the final deciding seconds was whether or not Childress should have been at the line to hit those game-winning free throws.
He said he should.
Harold Deane, called for the foul, said he shouldn't.
Deane compared it to the clean block he made of Georgia Tech's Travis Best's shot in the final second of last Sunday's double overtime victory.
``Nope, I sure didn't foul him,'' said Deane. ``I'm telling the truth. I didn't touch him. I didn't get anything but the ball.
``But I am just a player, and the ref has to make the call. Still, I am 100 percent certain it was not a foul.''
Childress smiled when told of Deane's statements.
``He got me,'' Childress said.
The game seemed to turn in direction of the Deacons when Odom was called for a technical foul with 7:40 remaining.
Virginia collected three free throws for a 60-57 lead but the Deacons scored the next nine for a 66-62 lead at 3:25.
Virginia came back to lead, 70-69, when Jason Williford scored off an offensive rebound.
Then Childress hit the two free thdrows [throws] for the victory.
``Childress is just Childress,'' sighed Virginia coach Jeff Jones.
``We knew he'd have the ball in the final minutes, but there wasn't much we could do to stop him.''
Looking at the stat sheet, Jones saw where Childress was only 8 for 22 from the field.
``That is not horrible defense,'' he said. ``We just didn't stop him when it counted.''
That's the way the Deacons planned it, of course. by CNB