THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300603
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: 72 lines
Whatever it is that has suddenly muted Old Dominion's once-promising basketball season struck again Wednesday night. And maybe the real ominous part of the Monarchs' 78-63 loss to East Carolina, their third in a row and fourth in the last five games, is that they appeared no closer to a solution.
Compounding ODU's vexing condition was the disciplinary action coach Jeff Capel leveled upon starters Odell Hodge, Brion Dunlap and Mike Byers. The three began the game on the bench as punishment for what Capel called a ``violation of team rules'' - the same catch-all that got starting center Reggie Bassett suspended recently for two games.
The trio entered with just over four minutes elapsed in the game, little expecting that ODU, then down 10-4, would never lead. The Monarchs drew even only once, at 14-14 with 10:10 left in the first half, trailed by 31-25 at the half and never crept closer than five points over the game's final 16 minutes.
When the Monarchs' locker room opened nearly a half-hour after the game, Hodge, the senior forward, was red-eyed and reaching for answers to ODU's slide.
``We're not executing mentally, and when you don't come to play mentally, you slip up and you lose,'' said Hodge, who, not counting the 29 games he missed with an injury as a junior, failed to start for the first time in his career, a string of 125 games.
Hodge called his benching ``the coach's decision,'' and declined to comment further on it.
``Right now, we're in a slump and we've got to turn this thing around,'' Hodge said. ``We've got to turn it around fast.''
With it all, the Monarchs (14-7, 5-4 in the CAA) fell to only a game behind East Carolina (13-5, 6-3) and two other teams in the race for the top seeding in the conference tournament.
But while Capel said he liked what he saw in the Monarchs' physical effort, a far cry better than in Saturday's 84-66 debacle at James Madison, he suspects that uncertainty has creeped into his players for the first time.
``I wouldn't have said that going into this game, but I think right now there certainly is a lack of confidence,'' Capel said.
``We've got a lot of mental preparation to do in the next couple days before our next game (Saturday at home vs. Richmond). We played with emotion, we played with intensity, unfortunately, we didn't use our brain.''
That weakness showed up in spotty defense, again, a minus-10 rebounding deficit and uneven offensive execution that Capel glumly labeled ``tentative.''
Boosted by 59 percent shooting in the second half, the Pirates, who largely had the run of the baseline, hit 48 percent of their shots for the game.
That puts ODU's field-goal defense at 47 percent in its four losses since Jan. 15.
With the ball, the Monarchs got 15 points, three shy of his average, from Hodge, who also led with eight rebounds.
However, Hodge got off only one shot in the second half - he made it to finish 5 for 9 from the floor - and ODU was unable to counter with any other scoring punch.
Byers, with 11, was the only other ODU player to score in double figures.
Three-point ace Mark Poag, averaging 13.3 points coming in, made just 2 of 11 shots, missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
Poag finished with seven points, giving him 19 for the last three games.
Meanwhile, the Pirates got a huge game from senior forward Tim Basham, whose 19 points and eight rebounds led the way.
Four other Pirates, whom ODU beat at Scope 79-70 on Jan. 11, also reached double figures, which irritated a downcast E.J. Sherod.
``We're not defending,'' the senior guard said.
``The things that we were doing to make us win, we're not doing them now.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BRANT SANDELIN/Special to The Virginian-Pilot
Old Dominion's Brion Dunlap, left, attempts to block out Tony Parham
as he drives to the basket for East Carolina.