THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702020256
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 75 lines
Watching Old Dominion early in the second half Saturday was like watching a gauge inch from empty toward full.
That would be the confidence gauge, which had been reading perilously low for the Monarchs lately. But ODU put a little tiger in its tank to snap a three-game losing streak with a 63-51 victory over Richmond before 5,917 at Scope.
The Monarchs were down 36-34 at the first television timeout of the second half with 15:58 remaining. ODU then ripped off a 15-2 run, looking for the first time in several games like the team that began the season 13-3. The Spiders went more than eight minutes without a field goal.
After losing four of its last five, suddenly ODU's confidence was restored.
``You could feel it coming on,'' backup post man Skipper Youngblood said. ``You could see it in everyone's eyes; they were just lighting up.''
Youngblood got it started, slamming home an alley-oop pass from E.J. Sherod. Then the Monarchs got out in transition and Brion Dunlap whistled a pass from 40 feet away to Odell Hodge right under the hoop. Youngblood followed with a nice spin move and hook shot in the lane, and Mike Byers swished a 15-foot jumper as the shot clock expired for a 42-36 lead.
Suddenly the Monarchs (15-7, 6-4 Colonial Athletic Association) had a buoyancy about them.
``You could kind of feel it,'' Sherod said. ``We just wanted to get back to playing our style of basketball.''
Any Monarch will tell you their style starts with defense. ODU was styling at that end of the court.
Richmond (7-11, 3-6) was held to a season-low 51 points, matching the second-lowest output of any team in a CAA game this season. The Spiders shot 28.1 percent from the field and ODU blocked 12 shots.
``We couldn't finish offensively inside against them,'' said Richmond coach Bill Dooley, lamenting the fact that his starting power forward and center shot a combined 3 for 19.
Richmond center Rick Edwards got elbowed early in the first half, opening a cut under his left eye that required three stitches to close.
Edwards, the Spiders' top scorer coming in with 15.8 points per game, was held scoreless for the first time this season. He missed all eight of his field-goal tries, including two during the 12 consecutive possessions in which Richmond failed to make a basket in the second half.
``Everything good happens to this basketball team when we compete at the defensive end of the floor,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``This is the best we've played in about two weeks or more at that end of the floor.''
Youngblood played some solid post defense in 13 minutes and Hodge and Reggie Bassette both blocked four shots. Cal Bowdler also contributed two blocks and eight points.
``It wasn't that spectacular, but they just gave a lunch-pail, hard-hat effort,'' Sherod said of ODU's post players.
Offensively, ODU also was workmanlike. Sherod and Hodge led four Monarchs in double figures with 11 points - matching the top scorers for the Spiders as well - while Byers and Mark Poag contributed 10. Hodge added 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.
The Monarchs continued to struggle with their perimeter shooting, making 3 of 11 from 3-point range but finishing a respectable 43 percent from the field overall. After building a 49-38 lead with that 15-2 run, the Monarchs were solid the rest of the way, never letting the Spiders creep closer than eight points.
``We all were on the same page tonight,'' Byers said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Reggie Bassette, who accounted for four of Old Dominion's 12 blocked
shots, loses his balance in this first-half tussle for a loose ball
with Richmond's Khaleel Abdul-Malik. ODU held the Spiders to a
season-low 51 points.
Photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Mike Byers, who helped spark ODU's second-half run that seized
control of the game, gets in the face of Richmond's Daryl Oliver on
defense.