THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Momentarily stunned by a surprise fast-break attack from East Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth's Rams regained their composure, then trampled their way into tonight's Colonial Athletic Association championship game.
VCU (23-8) got 16 points from CAA Player of the Year Bernard Hopkins and 13 from guard Patrick Lee to trounce ECU 75-60 and move into the 7 p.m. final against UNC-Wilmington.
But it was the Rams' bench that bailed VCU out of a rough start and turned the game's momentum.
ECU, a ball-control team, came out running and gunning and bolted to a 15-5 lead six minutes into the game. VCU coach Sonny Smith then called a 20-second timeout and inserted his ``white'' team of five substitutes. (The starters are called the ``black'' team.)
``Our second group had to jump-start us,'' Smith said. ``East Carolina really surprised us with their fast break and knocked us back on our feet.''
Six minutes later, the ``white'' team went to the bench with the score tied at 15 and the momentum clearly VCU's way.
The Rams led by seven at halftime, then blew it open early in the second half in large part because of Ivan Chappell, a senior from Chesapeake.
The Western Branch High School graduate hit a fallaway 3-point shot at 15:26 that gave VCU a nine-point lead. A minute later, Chappell passed on the fast break to Ben Peabody, who jammed a reverse dunk to make it 40-29.
Peabody dunked again at 13:51 to build the lead to 13. ECU didn't get within 10 the rest of the way.
Peabody, one of Smith's five subs, said the initial ECU burst nearly threw the Rams into a panic.
``We saw our careers flashing in front of our eyes right there on the bench,'' said Peabody, a senior. ``We knew we had to get in there and get it done.''
And that, ECU coach Joe Dooley said, they surely did.
``Their sub team changed the tempo of the game,'' said Dooley, whose team committed 19 turnovers and made just 18 of 33 foul shots. ``They made a lot of shots and threw us off with their defense.''
VCU will go to the NCAA tournament if it wins tonight, and likely will go to the National Invitation Tournament if it loses. ECU, at 17-11, has only an outside shot of an NIT berth.
``Our kids played hard, they played as hard as they could,'' Dooley said. ``But we missed easy shots, we didn't make our free throws.
``We did so many things to hurt ourselves.''
EAST CAROLINA (17-11): Basham 5-6 0-1 12, Bryant 0-1 1-4 1, Kerner 3-5 2-4 8, Meadows 2-8 6-6 11, Parham 3-8 3-4 9, Rippey 3-4 3-4 10, Van Weerdhuizen 0-1 0-0 0, Grooms 0-2 3-4 3, Hamilton 3-8 0-4 6. Totals 19-43 18-33 60.
VA. COMMONWEALTH (23-8): Chappell 2-5 4-4 9, Hopkins 5-12 6-10 16, Byrd 2-7 4-4 8, Hamilton 2-6 2-2 7, Lee 4-9 3-4 13, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Peabody 5-8 2-6 12, Reed 2-2 0-0 4, Talley 2-5 0-0 4, Marston 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 21-30 75.
Halftime:Va. Commonwealth 34, East Carolina 27. 3-Point goals:East Carolina 4-13 (Basham 2-3, Meadows 1-5, Parham 0-3, Rippey 1-1, Hamilton 0-1), Va. Commonwealth 4-18 (Chappell 1-3, Hopkins 0-1, Byrd 0-1, Hamilton 1-4, Lee 2-6, Talley 0-1, Marston 0-2). Fouled out:Bryant, Kerner, Hopkins. Rebounds:East Carolina 38 (Kerner 9), Va. Commonwealth 36 (Talley 6). Assists:East Carolina 7 (Parham, Grooms 2), Va. Commonwealth 10 (Reed 4). Total fouls:East Carolina 24, Va. Commonwealth 27. Technicals:Bryant, Talley. A:4,200. by CNB