THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020381
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Richmond survived a furious George Mason run with one of its own and held on to win Friday night's Colonial Athletic Association play-in game at the Richmond Coliseum 93-77.
Richmond (8-19) will meet cross-town rival and top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth in today's first quarterfinal game at noon.
The Spiders built a 20-point lead with just under 11 minutes to play, but George Mason cut the deficit to seven with 6:40 remaining. UR's Jarod Stevenson (19 points, nine rebounds, six assists) ignited an 11-0 run with a 3-pointer, and the Patriots (11-16) got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
``Jarod made a huge, huge shot,'' Spiders coach Bill Dooley said. ``It's so mental when someone's making a run at you. You need for your best player to step up and quiet them.''
Richmond freshman Jonathan Baker made eight 3-pointers and led all scorers with 20 points. The Patriots' Curtis McCants scored 23 points, but was just 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
WAITING GAME: Friday's game created a dilemma of sorts for CAA teams. The awards banquet was held Thursday, which meant most teams will have spent about two days in Richmond waiting to play.
``Sitting in a hotel for two days could put you in a nut house,'' said William and Mary coach Charlie Woollum, who elected to take his team back to Williamsburg after the Tribe's Friday morning practice. William and Mary plays in tonight's 9:30 game.
It was a 45-minute drive for the Tribe, but their opponent, UNC-Wilmington, did not have the luxury of going all the way home to southern North Carolina. Coach Jerry Wainwright said his team will have been in Richmond about 60 hours before tipoff.
``Waiting is one of the hardest things to do,'' Wainwright said. ``A lot of teams leave their games in the hotel.''
ODU coach Jeff Capel left his team in the hotel. Capel traveled to Hampton Roads to watch his son Jason play in the Eastern Region tournament for Indian River. Capel planned to return to Richmond late Friday night.
NEW VIEW FOR VCU: Top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth never had to contend with the onus of favorite in the Metro Conference, its previous league. A couple of Rams said Friday they enjoy the status of favorite, but feel the pressure that comes with it.
``It's kind of funny,'' center George Byrd said. ``We've always been a lower seed in the tournament since I've been here. We've got a bullseye on our backs now.''
TRIBE TRIALS: William and Mary has lost seven consecutive first-round games in this tournament, and has not made the tournament final since 1983 when the league was known as the ECAC South.
``It would help us a lot to get one under our belts,'' William and Mary's David Cully said. ``After we get one, we'd have a lot of confidence.''
Woollum's first two William and Mary teams have both won more games than the previous edition. He said a tournament win would help continue the program's upward swing.
``This is another step we have to take,'' Woollum said.
NAME DROPPING: John Feinstein threw out a list of potential replacements for North Carolina State's Les Robinson on ESPN the other night. Included on the list was ODU's Capel. by CNB