THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602110273
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
OK, so Old Dominion and James Madison are not as good as their predecessors that played for the last two Colonial Athletic Association championships, but Saturday's theater at Scope was worthy of a title game.
ODU fell behind by 19 points early and trailed by 15 with 13:59 remaining before storming back to beat the Dukes 76-72 before the Monarchs' biggest (announced attendance 8,094) and loudest home crowd this season.
``I'm really glad that basketball is a game of two halves,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``If we hadn't had that intermission, I don't know if we could have done what we did tonight.''
Had the second-place Monarchs (13-11, 8-3) not completed the comeback, they would have been the season's biggest upset victims in the CAA.
JMU (5-19, 1-10) is in last place and has not won on the road. It was another in a frustrating series of eight consecutive losses for the Dukes.
``This one hurts the most because we had a chance to make a statement to the rest of the league,'' JMU guard Darren McLinton said, who made a personal statement with 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting.
``We just invent ways to lose,'' Dukes coach Lefty Driesell said.
They got some help Saturday from ODU's inventive 6-foot-6 power forward Joe Bunn, who scored 14 his 16 points in the second half. Bunn was 7 of 7 shooting, using an array of post moves, turn-arounds and hook shots with either hand.
``Bunn,'' Driesell said when asked the key to ODU's comeback. ``How do you spell his name? B-U-N-N, Bunn. He whipped us single-handedly. He did a great job, we couldn't stop him.''
Bunn smiled when told of Driesell's assessment.
``The Lefthander, he has a way with words, but it was a team effort,'' Bunn said.
Indeed, the Monarchs pulled each other up from the dredges after they limped out to a 25-6 deficit 10 minutes into the game. Going back to the five-minute overtime period in the loss to Virginia Commonwealth, the 38-point loss to Virginia and the opening 9:59 Saturday, the Monarchs had been outscored by 56 points in 55 minutes of basketball.
The Dukes used a 17-0 run to build the lead, beating ODU with dribble penetration for layups or open shots when the Monarchs inside defenders rotated over to stop a drive. ODU sliced into the lead slightly by halftime, trailing 45-32. JMU scored just 45 points in ODU's win there last month.
The Monarchs picked up the defensive intensity in the second half, holding the Dukes to 27 points while ODU shot 60.7 percent from the field and outrebounded JMU by 12. Duffy Samuels and E.J. Sherod came off the bench to help spark ODU's stiffened defense.
``Straight up effort, that's what it was,'' center Odell Hodge said. ``Everyone played together.''
Hodge had team highs of 18 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots. He and Bunn were in the game together most of the night for the first time since December.
``We proved myself and JB are a great 1-2 punch,'' Hodge said. ``When we're both clicking, we're hard to stop. The guy is just relentless.''
JMU had used a diamond-and-one defense on ODU to help build its lead, but they came out of it as ODU's shooters heated up in the second half. Then ODU went to Bunn against the man-to-man.
ODU trailed by 15 with 13:59 left, but used an 18-4 run to get within a point at 61-60 with 7:24 remaining, as Bunn scored eight of the 18. The Monarchs took their first lead of the game with 4:41 left when Sherod tipped in his own miss.
The Dukes came back, however, as McLinton made three consecutive baskets - including a pair of 3-pointers - to give JMU a 72-71 lead with 1:39 remaining.
Sherod put ODU back on top with a pair of free throws with 1:05 left, and then JMU guard Ned Felton missed a driving shot over Hodge. Sherod went back to the line and made 1 of 2, then with 10.2 seconds remaining Felton missed the front end of a one-and-one. Samuels rebounded, dribbled downcourt and was fouled. His two free throws with 4.7 seconds left sealed the win. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Joe Bunn of ODU heads downcourt after stripping the ball from JMU's
Ned Felton. ``He(Bunn) whipped us single-handedly. He did a great
job, we couldn't stop him,'' said JMU coach Lefty Driesell.
by CNB