THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503060115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
American dogged Old Dominion Sunday and almost took a bite out of the Monarchs' NCAA tournament hopes.
``We were kind of like the dog yipping at the guy's ankle - you just can't get rid of them,'' American coach Chris Knoche said.
Finally it was Monarch Petey Sessoms who booted American in the snout and propelled ODU into the Colonial Athletic Association final with a 77-67 overtime victory at the Richmond Coliseum.
``At crunch time, he just kind of took over the game,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said of Sessoms. ``We said, `Give it to Petey and get out of his way.' When your jump shot is not falling sometimes you've got to take the ball to the basket.''
The Monarchs (19-11) will attempt to become the first No. 1 seed to win this tournament since 1988 when they meet third-seeded James Madison tonight at 7 (HTS) with an NCAA tournament berth on the line. The game is a rematch of last year's title game, which the Dukes won at the buzzer.
Sunday's semifinal almost came down to a buzzer-beater. The Monarchs' Mike Jones - who led all scorers with 25 points - had a chance to win it in regulation, but had the ball stripped in the lane with about four seconds left. American's Nathan Smith got the ball past midcourt, but couldn't get off a shot as Jones applied defensive pressure.
Regulation ended with the teams deadlocked, 59-59.
In overtime, Sessoms took over. His jump shot with 3:37 remaining put ODU ahead for good, and he followed that with a pair of free throws and then a driving basket with 2:02 left.
That was the start of a 10-0 Monarch run in overtime, a stretch that was punctuated with David Harvey's break-away slam dunk with 54 seconds left. Finally ODU could feel comfortable after floundering throughout the second half.
In the final 2 1/2 minutes of regulation and in overtime, Sessoms scored 12 of ODU's 24 points and made a couple pivotal defensive plays. But he's come up empty in this tournament on the play he's best known for - the 3-point shot. The Monarchs' career 3-point leader and CAA Player of the Year is 0-for-10 from beyond the arc in two games.
``I'd been struggling the whole game shooting, and I just wanted to start to get something going by going to the basket and being aggressive,'' Sessoms said of his play down the stretch.
It helped that Duane Gilliam, who did a good job defensively on Sessoms, fouled out early in the overtime. That left freshman Matthew Brown to contend with Sessoms.
``I assumed when I went out of the game they would go to Petey right away,'' Gilliam said.
The Eagles (9-19) had the Monarchs discombobulated much of the second half. American trailed, 33-26, at halftime, but went on an 11-0 run to pull within 39-38 with 15:31 to play.
The teams were within six points of each other until ODU's run in overtime. American took its first lead since early in the game on Smith's 3-pointer with 8:49 to play.
From that point on, the game featured eight lead changes and five ties.
Old Dominion went almost eight minutes during one stretch of the second half without a field goal, and made just two baskets from the 18:15 mark until 4:41 remained.
American had the upper hand in the game's final minute. After ODU's Brion Dunlap missed two free throws with 1:16 to play, American had the ball and a two-point lead.
But Darryl Franklin missed a shot, and ODU's Mario Mullen tied the game on a pair of free throws with 45.6 seconds left. American's Christian Ast missed a jumper with 27 seconds left on which his hand appeared to be hit by ODU's David Harvey, setting up the failed final possession of regulation by the Monarchs.
``I thought I did (get fouled), but the call wasn't made,'' Ast said. ``That's the ref's decision and you have to live with that.''
Ast finished with 24 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Sessoms had 21 and 14 rebounds for his 12th double-double this season. The Monarchs had a huge rebounding advantage (43-30), but gave much of that edge back with 17 turnovers compared to American's 10.
Now ODU gets a chance to avenge one of the more infamous moments in the program's history: losing a 19-point lead in 13 minutes and falling in the final to the Dukes last year on Kent Culuko's last-second shot.
``We lost our focus for that one second, and that second cost us an NCAA tournament berth,'' Sessoms said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Mario Mullen of Old Dominion takes the low road to recover a loose
ball from American's Duane Gilliam.
by CNB