The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995            TAG: 9502230461
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   28 lines

ODU CLINCHES TOP SEED IN CAA TOURNAMENT

Old Dominion has clinched the top seed in the Colonial Athletic Association basketball tournament March 4-6, thanks to a little help Wednesday from American.

The Eagles defeated James Madison, 86-83, to drop the Dukes two games behind ODU with one game to play.

UNC Wilmington (10-3 CAA) could still tie the Monarchs (11-2) for the regular-season crown with a win Saturday at East Carolina coupled with an Old Dominion loss to William and Mary Saturday at the ODU field house.

But ODU would earn the tournament's top seed based on the conference tie-breaker system. The teams split their head-to-head meetings, so the next criteria is record against the next-highest team in the standings. ODU split with James Madison, while JMU swept UNC Wilmington. If the Monarchs had finished tied with James Madison, the tie-breaker for the top seed would have been in the Dukes' favor.

Old Dominion's first-round game at the Richmond Coliseum will be against either Richmond (2-11) or George Mason (2-10). by CNB