THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 20, 1995 TAG: 9503200122
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Had Old Dominion advanced to the Sweet 16, the plot line would have rivaled an implausible movie script.
Instead, a recent Hollywood release could sum up the Monarchs' NCAA tournament exit: The Quick and The Dead.
Tulsa guards Pooh Williamson and Shea Seals were The Quick, combining for 50 points in the Golden Hurricane's 64-52 victory. They were too much for The Dead legs of Old Dominion.
Tulsa outscored ODU, 16-6, in the game's final 7:07 to pull out an East Regional second-round game at Knickerbocker Arena. Tulsa (24-7) moves on the regional semifinal Friday against Massachusetts at the Meadowlands.
Old Dominion - which was attempting to become only the second 14-seed to reach the regional semifinals in the 11 seasons of a 64-team tournament - ends the season 21-12.
The nagging question after the game was how much had Friday's emotionally and physically draining triple-overtime upset of third-seeded Villanova taken out of ODU?
Monarch opinions were mixed.
``I don't think fatigue was too much of a part of it, they just outhustled us and outplayed us on the boards,'' said Petey Sessoms, who scored 17 points.
``A lot of us were fatigued, but we're not going to make excuses,'' center David Harvey said. ``Maybe if the Villanova game didn't go triple overtime, who knows what would have happened?''
And who knows what would have happened had Tulsa point guard Williamson not buried a 3-pointer with 7:07 to play as the shot clock wound down? The Monarchs had scraped back from an 11-point deficit as seniors Sessoms and Mike Jones (19 points) scored all the ODU points in an 11-2 run.
Sessoms' slashsing move to the basket cut Tulsa's lead to 48-46 with 7:43 remaining.
``We knew we were right in the game, but they withstood our run,'' ODU forward Mario Mullen said.
At the other end, Harvey blocked a Seals shot, but Tulsa retained possession and Williamson launched the trey as the shot clock ticked down.
``We were playing real good defense, and when he hit that 3-pointer it took a lot out of us,'' Sessoms said.
Williamson's 3-pointer was part of 12 consecutive Golden Hurricane points he scored during a stretch of more than seven minutes.
Still, the Monarchs hung on. Sessoms hit a stop-and-pop jumper with 5:11 left to keep ODU within range, 55-50.
But that would be the Monarchs' final field goal of the season.
Tulsa outscored them, 9-2, down the stretch as ODU missed its last seven shots. Both Mullen and Sessoms failed to convert the front end of one-and-ones in the closing 3:39. Mullen shoots 74.6 percent from the line, Sessoms 83.2 percent.
``I thought we moved pretty well,'' said coach Jeff Capel when asked about the fatigue factor. ``Maybe in the last four minutes it was starting to hurt us. Petey missed a free throw, which is very uncharacteristic of him. He was asking out at the 4 1/2 minute mark, he needed a blow.
``I don't want to say fatigue had anything to do with it. Give credit to Tulsa, they just outplayed us.''
The Golden Hurricane dominated the boards, beating ODU, 42-32. The Monarchs took a 24-10 spanking on the glass in the first half.
The rebounding was attributable to the Golden Hurricane's big bodies inside - two 6-foot-11 players, one 6-10 and a 6-7. All four weigh between 225 to 260 pounds.
``They just kept bringing bodies and bodies in,'' said the 6-8, 230-pound Harvey. ``Playing the whole game with four big bodies laying on you is really difficult.''
Almost as difficult as trying to run through them, as Jones, Sessoms and Brion Dunlap discovered. Tulsa set an array of screens to free the backcourt duo of Williamson and Seals, who were already quicker than anyone ODU could put on the floor.
``That was the key for us today, we really dominated the boards and the big guys set a lot of screens for us,'' Seals said.
Old Dominion tried everything to stop Seals - switching defenders, a box-and-one and zone. Nothing worked. He scored 31 points.
``He just runs everywhere,'' said Jones, who guarded him much of the game. ``Their post players are real big and they do a real good job setting good, solid screens.''
Only Weber State's Jimmy DeGraffenried (35) and Southern Illinois' Chris Carr (34) scored more this season against ODU.
``We couldn't seem to come up with an answer for how to control him,'' Capel said.
ODU, meanwhile, was missing some weapons.
The Monarchs came into the game shooting 36.5 percent from 3-point range, but made just 3 of 15 (20 percent). Overall, they shot 36.8 percent. Mullen was held to four points, nine under his average, and Sessoms' fell five shy of his average. The 52 points matched ODU's season low against Arizona State.
``We just didn't have what it took to win this ballgame,'' Sessoms said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Staff
A dejected Mike Jones, left, is consoled by Old Dominion teammate
Petey Sessoms, who watches the final seconds tick off the clock
during the Monarchs' NCAA tournament loss to Tulsa.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Staff
Mario Mullen of Old Dominion, right, battles Craig Hernandi of Tulsa
for a rebound.
by CNB