THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503060124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
With 25 seconds to play Sunday and its team comfortably ahead of Richmond, the James Madison cheering section put up what should be an old refrain when it comes to CAA championship games.
``ODU . . . ODU . . . ODU,'' the Madison faithful chanted.
It wasn't a jibe aimed at what few Monarchs fans were left inside the Richmond Coliseum. And it wasn't a battle cry. For the third time in four years, it was merely a statement of fact.
By virtue of their 81-70 victory over the Spiders, James Madison will play ODU for the Colonial Athletic Association title and the automatic NCAA tournament berth that goes to the winner. Tip-off is at 7 tonight.
The schools have split the two previous title games. The Monarchs won in 1992 in an upset that highlighted Oliver Purnell's rookie season as ODU coach. Madison came from 19 points down last year to take the title on Kent Culuko's buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
``The CAA championship has been our goal all season,'' said JMU forward Louis Rowe, who finished with 21 points. ``Now that we're here, we're just one step away from our goal.''
Richmond (8-20) held a one-point halftime advantage that could have been greater had the Spiders not converted just 5 of 14 free throws.
They missed their first four from the line in the second half, a development that corresponded with Madison's surge to victory.
In one three-minute stretch, Rowe scored eight of JMU's 16 points. He began with a basket that brought the Dukes to within one, at 38-37, with 14:24 to play. He finished it with a savage slam at the end of an uncontested drive through the lane that boosted the Dukes' margin to 13 with 7:11 left.
That pretty much took care of the Spiders, despite a gallant shooting effort from Adam Mobley. The freshman forward came off the bench to hit 6 of 10 3-point shots and finish with a team-high 18 points.
``Two things doomed us - our foul shooting and the difficult time we had handling their speed, especially Rowe and Darren McLinton,'' Richmond coach Bill Dooley said. ``We're battling them, getting offensive rebounds, getting fouled, then we make one, miss two, miss another. It sucks the air out of you.''
McLinton led the Dukes with 23 points. When he wasn't hitting 3-pointers (he was 4 of 6 behind the arc), he slicing through the Richmond defense for layups or passes to open teammates.
``Dribble-penetration,'' Dooley called it. ``When McLinton didn't score, he found Culuko - and you know he's going to knock it down.''
Culuko finished with 17 in helping the Dukes (16-12) fashion a two-game winning streak and offensive proficiency that seems to be coming at just the right time.
``We've executed well the past two games,'' McLinton said. ``We've taken some good shots, shots we know we can make, and we've come away with two convincing wins.
``This is my third year here and my third championship game. I want to make it two out of three.'' by CNB