THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220457
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Mark Poag lit it up again and Odell Hodge and Joe Bunn recorded double-doubles. But at crunch time, it was a most unlikely offensive threat who came up with the pivotal points for Old Dominion.
Sophomore point guard Brion Dunlap scored seven consecutive points to help the Monarchs pull away from William and Mary for a 91-86 victory at the ODU field house.
``Teams don't expect him to shoot the ball, but he showed confidence shooting and they were dropping for him,'' said Hodge, who had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
ODU (16-11, 11-3 Colonial Athletic Association) led 79-77 when Dunlap drove the right side of the lane and scored over the Tribe's Randy Bracy, who fouled Dunlap. The three-point play put ODU up by five with 2:34 to play.
William and Mary's Matt Verkey missed a runner, and at the other end Dunlap drove the lane again, this time scoring an almost uncontested layup with 1:54 remaining. The Tribe defense almost seemed to be looking for a pass, Dunlap's customary play when he goes to the hoop. William and Mary coach Charlie Woollum called it a defensive breakdown by his team.
``Coach tells Duffy (Samuels) and me we have to at least look at the basket when we get in that close,'' said Dunlap, who finished with nine points. ``We catch them by surprise like that sometimes when you do things unexpected of you, but you know inside you can do them.''
Dunlap - who averages 4.6 points per game - added 2 of 4 free throws in the next minute for his personal 7-0 run. Then he made a steal that led to an E.J. Sherod free throw and 87-77 ODU lead with 48.7 seconds left. The Tribe (9-15, 5-10) cut it to four with 13.7 seconds left, but got no closer as the Monarchs won their 11th in a row and 24th out the last 25 over William and Mary.
``Brion down the stretch - taking the ball to the basket in critical situations - just did a good job for us,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``We know what he can do, but a lot of times (he) doesn't get credit.''
Virginia Commonwealth won Wednesday to clinch the regular-season title and top seed in next week's CAA tournament. ODU's win coupled with East Carolina's loss to James Madison Wednesday clinched second place for the Monarchs. They will play the 7 p.m. quarterfinal game March 2 in Richmond against the seventh seed, which if the season ended today would be William and Mary.
The Monarchs led the entire game and started hot, building a 29-12 lead just over eight minutes into the game. They had a 44-26 edge with 2:34 to play following eight consecutive points by Poag (game-high 27 points, six 3-pointers, seven boards).
William and Mary clawed back, ripping off an 8-1 run to close the first half and a 16-6 spurt to open the second to draw within 51-50 with 15:39 remaining.
``We've got to know how to finish teams and put them away,'' Hodge said. ``We played real strong for 10 or 12 minutes there and didn't finish them. We can't have that come tournament time.''
Bunn had 17 points and a team-high 14 rebounds for ODU, which won the battle of the boards 45-31. Bobby Fitzgibbons (19 points) and Carl Parker (18) led the Tribe. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
William and Mary's Christopher Horne reaches back for the ball as
Odell Hodge of ODU shadows him during ODU's victory Wednesday.
by CNB