THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701090530
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: 72 lines
A shooter can't afford to be a slave to fashion.
Old Dominion's Mark Poag, mired in a bit of a slump, decided to shake things up Wednesday night by wearing knee-high socks. Those fell out of fashion for basketball players years ago.
But Poag pulled them way up and then put down a career-high 32 points in ODU's 94-85 victory over George Mason at the Patriot Center.
``I just wanted to try something different,'' Poag said. ``You'll see them again next game.''
``He's going to sleep in them,'' teammate Mike Byers said.
ODU improved to 11-3, 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association. That's the Monarchs' best overall start since 1987-88.
The bulk of that record has been forged on the road or at neutral sites. ODU will play at Scope for the first time in 37 days Saturday night when it hosts East Carolina.
While the Monarchs are out of the gate quickly, sophomore forward Poag hasn't always been in full stride. Nine times this year he's scored 15 or more points, but four times he's been held under 10, including two goose eggs.
``That's him,'' coach Jeff Capel said when asked about his streaky shooter. ``Both on and off the floor. He came out in those high socks tonight because he said he hadn't been shooting well. I don't know what the hell he'll try next time. That's Poag.''
And that's also George Mason (7-6, 1-3), which offers a shooter more open looks in a night than he might normally see in a month. Poag's previous career high was 28 against the Patriots last year when he hit eight treys. Wednesday he had seven and was 11 of 19 overall from the field.
``You know George Mason plays that up-tempo game with that zone, and a lot of times it seems like you get pretty good looks,'' Poag said.
ODU looked good overall, shooting 52.7 percent from the field and enjoying a 45-33 rebounding advantage. The Monarchs struggled against George Mason's quickness, as the Patriots made 18 steals and forced ODU into 24 turnovers. But GMU shot just 37.3 percent from the field, 15 percent (3 of 20) from beyond the arc.
The game's final seven minutes dragged on for 30 minutes of real time. ODU took an 84-69 lead on E.J. Sherod's spinning move in the lane with 6:35 remaining, and from that point on the Monarchs attempted just three field goals and 20 foul shots, making just 10. Capel was upset that ODU sent George Mason to the line eight times in the final 3 1/2 minutes.
An ODU lead that reached 17 at one point was trimmed to nine in the final minute. After a pair of missed free throws by Poag with 47.1 seconds left, George Mason had a chance to cut it to six on a Leighton Henry 3-pointer that misfired.
The game featured 56 personal fouls and 87 free throws. GMU's 44 attempts from the line were the most ever for an ODU opponent.
``I thought for the most part our kids really competed at a high level, at least physically,'' Capel said. ``I think the last three minutes of the basketball game mentally we just lost it. We were fouling as though we were behind instead of in the lead and we were not stepping up to the free throw line to finish plays. But this is a good win for us. George Mason is going to beat a lot of people in here.''
ODU point guard Brion Dunlap missed much of the game with what trainer Scott Johnson called a sprained right thumb, which Dunlap suffered on a steal midway through the first half. Dunlap said he heard something pop when he was injured. He returned in the second half, but late in the game had to shoot a free throw lefthanded because of the pain.
The Monarchs got 37 points from the bench compared with just 16 for the Patriots. Sherod scored 15, freshman Freddie Bryant had a career-high 12 and three assists and Cal Bowdler chipped in eight and grabbed 10 rebounds.
George Mason was led by George Redd's 29 points, 13 of which came from the line. CAA leading scorer Nate Langley, who fouled out with 5 1/2 minutes left, had 19 points and six steals. [For complete copy of game statistics see microfilm