THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160478
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 73 lines
First-place Old Dominion suffered a painful loss to the Colonial Athletic Association's last-place team Wednesday, one that may hurt even more come March.
The Monarchs fell 80-77 in overtime to American, which had not won since Dec. 14. ODU was without starting guard Mike Byers, out with a knee injury he suffered in the last game, and center Reggie Bassette, who was serving the second game of a two-game suspension.
It's the kind of loss that could haunt ODU should it fail to win the conference tournament and hope to make the NCAA tournament as an at-large team. A loss to American (4-10, 1-4 CAA) could be an albatross to ODU's RPI, the computer rating system used to select and seed the NCAA tournament.
American, which came in shooting 40 percent from the field, made 47.4 percent against the team that led the league in field-goal percentage defense at 37 percent. Only Eastern Michigan has shot a higher percentage against ODU this season. The Monarchs, meanwhile, shot just 40.8 percent against an American team ranked last in the CAA in field-goal percentage defense at 47.1 percent.
``I don't know if we take things for granted or what,'' ODU's Odell Hodge said. ``We come out on the court and expect to win every time we step out there. We didn't give no defensive effort tonight, and I'm speaking for myself as well. I take full responsibility for the lack of defensive effort.''
The Monarchs (13-4, 4-1) have always found Bender Arena, a high school gym masquerading as a Division I building, a tough place to play. In six years in the CAA, ODU is 2-4 here.
American snapped its own five-losing streak and ODU's six-game winning streak. The Eagles had lost three close games in the league.
``The singular feeling you leave that game with is there is justice, and there is some payback,'' American coach Chris Knoche said. ``We had been doing everything but winning.''
American trailed by five with 6:19 remaining in regulation, but came back to tie the game at 68 on two Nathan Smith free throws with 1:23 remaining and go ahead 70-68 on a 10-foot running jumper by Smith with 38 seconds left.
The Monarchs tied it at 70 on an E.J. Sherod basket with 19 seconds left. American's Dave Small missed an off-balance shot in the lane in the closing seconds, and ODU's Brion Dunlap's half-court shot at the buzzer bounded off the rim.
In the overtime, ODU missed its first five shots as the Eagles built a 74-71 lead. The Monarchs cut it to one three times, but each time American answered with a basket or a pair of free throws. Small's two free throws with 16 seconds left gave American an 80-77 lead.
Sherod missed underneath with eight seconds left, but ODU got the ball back and called time with seven seconds left. On the in-bounds, Sherod had trouble finding an open man and had to heave the ball long to avoid a five-second call. Mark Poag ran it down and tipped it to Cal Bowdler, who passed to Brion Dunlap who found freshman Freddie Bryant open on the wing. Bryant's 3-pointer missed at the buzzer.
Hodge had game-highs of 29 points and 14 rebounds playing against guys at least 2 inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter, but he was 13 of 26 from the field, missing most from point-blank range.
The surprise for the Monarchs was freshman Brandon Jones, whose career high prior to Wednesday was two points. The athletic Jones, a 6-foot-4 swing man, came off the bench to spark ODU's comeback from big deficits in both halves, and finished with 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting in 12 minutes.
Jones made three consecutive baskets and led the Monarchs' defensive pressure that brought them back after they fell behind 45-36 early in the second half. But shortly thereafter coach Jeff Capel sat him down for most of the final 12 minutes of the second half and five-minute overtime.
Capel said he sat Jones down once ODU got back in the game because, with ODU shorthanded, he had to back off the press, and he wanted to go with more experienced players.
``Maybe I probably should have used him more,'' Capel said. ``You're waiting on Poag to get off. He didn't have a particularly good shooting night (5 of 19, 2 of 13 3-pointers). You live and die with that guy.''