Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9403060189
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At the Maroons' offensive end of the floor, Hampden-Sydney took away the baseline, where Hilliary Scott and Bryant Lee had beaten the Tigers before. When H-S had the ball, it worked a different line to end a Roanoke winning streak that was as long as anyone's in the nation.
In the NCAA Division III men's tournament, a meeting of Old Dominion Athletic Conference rivals had an outcome dripping in sweat and irony.
One week after the Tigers desperately needed a Maroons' victory in the ODAC Tournament championship game just to back into the 40-team NCAA field, Hampden-Sydney finished one of the glorious seasons in Roanoke history.
With a convincing 95-80 thumping, the Tigers (22-5) won the meeting with the Maroons that counted most - the one that sent them to the NCAA Sweet 16. Roanoke had two regular-season wins over H-S, part of the Maroons' school-record, 22-game winning streak.
After seventh-seeded Guilford upset the Tigers in the ODAC first round, their bid rested on Roanoke beating Emory & Henry in the ODAC title game. Coach Tony Shaver's team eked into the NCAA field as the fifth - and bottom - seed in the South Region, and had to win at Oglethorpe (Ga.) Thursday night to get a rematch with a team the Tigers had figured - and wanted - to play for the ODAC championship.
Roanoke (26-2) was ranked fourth nationally in the last Division III coaches' poll. Coach Page Moir's team had won 27 of its past 30 games with ODAC foes and has 46 wins in the past two years but has no NCAA success to add to that. Only Wittenberg (Ohio) came into the 40-team Division III field with a record to match the Maroons' mark.
"The fact we lost to Guilford, once we got into the NCAA, no doubt helped us," Shaver said. "At the time, it surely put us in jeopardy, but it ended up helping us a great deal. I can't tell you the difference in how we're playing and practicing now compared to before that loss."
The Tigers' impressive victory was no fluke, although one portion of Hampden-Sydney's success wasn't in the game plan. That was sophomore backup guard Ryan Odom's 21 points.
Odom had a much better Saturday than his father Dave, the Wake Forest coach who flew to Roanoke to watch his son after the Deacons lost four hours earlier at North Carolina State.
The younger Odom averages 10 points per game, but he hadn't been shooting well lately. When Roanoke native Tee Jennings - the Tigers' starting point man - banged his right knee on the floor early in the game, Shaver didn't have the versatility he likes when choosing between his very small point guards. That was OK. Hampden-Sydney is a very different team with Odom at the point than with the whirling dervish Jennings running the show. When Odom is hitting, the Tigers are much stronger offensively. Odom's 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in the first half put the Tigers in front for good.
He hit another trey with 12:42 left to put the Tigers up 56-43, just as Roanoke was finishing a 1-for-13 start to the second half and a span of 24 possessions that included only four field goals.
"Maybe it was fate that Tee got banged up a little," Shaver said. "Tee has tremendous quickness, but Ryan makes an incredible difference in our team when he shoots well. This was one of those nights."
While his father loved a "game of classic intensity . . . a tremendous brand of basketball," the younger Odom said the Tigers won because they had lost in the same town nine days earlier.
"We were more focused after we lost to Guilford," Odom said. "We thought that game really hurt us. We were down. When we got in [the NCAA], it was a relief. We're playing better.
"The atmosphere was tremendous. The fact that we got the lead and built on it, I think mattered a lot. When a team has a record like Roanoke had, you know they probably haven't come from a lot of points down many times."
Scott finished his career with a 27-point, 11-rebound night, but he didn't dominate the Tigers as he had in the two earlier games. Lee, who had 34 points and 22 rebounds in Roanoke's two wins over the Tigers, was defended into single digits this time.
And all the Maroons will feel today is March madness.
by CNB