Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411220060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fortunately for both of them, it was the second half.
Roanoke bounced Augsburg (Minn.) College 75-61 in the nightcap of the first round of the Salem Bank & Trust Tip-Off Tournament at the Bast Center.
The Maroons advance to play Ferrum (a 77-73 winner over Rose-Hulman in Saturday's first game) for the championship today at 3 p.m. It will be the third consecutive year the schools have met in the final.
Roanoke won the title in 1992 and 1993, as it has in seven of its 10 season-opening tournaments.
For the first 20 minutes Saturday, Roanoke's chances of playing for the title this year appeared to be in serious jeopardy.
The team that won 22 consecutive games last season, finished 26-2 and never scored fewer than 63 points, clearly was not the unit on the floor. The Maroons shot 28 percent from the field and 25 percent from the free-throw line while scratching for 19 points.
Still, Roanoke only trailed by two - which Augsburg was spotted before the opening tip. The Maroons were slapped with four technical fouls for dunking during warmups, and Derrin Lamker converted two of four free throws.
``We had some ridiculous stats in the first half, but the effort was there,'' said Page Moir, the Maroons' coach. ``Then, in the second half, our shots started to fall.''
Things fell into place for the Maroons after intermission. They made 18 of 28 field-goal attempts, including four of six from 3-point range. Roanoke only missed three of 19 free throws in the second half, scoring 56 points.
Sophomore guard Jason Bishop, making his first start for the Maroons, led Roanoke with 17 points. He also was credited with nine rebounds.
``I didn't play as good as I would have liked,'' Bishop said. ``I was a little bit nervous.''
Maroons freshman A.J. Hamlin contributed a sterling performance, scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 field-goal shooting. Hamlin also cited ``jitters`` as a factor
In Saturday's first game, Rose-Hulman opened early leads of 15-7 and 25-19, and Ferrum trailed 36-21 with 7:28 left in the half when the Panthers called time out.
The Engineers would score only 37 points the rest of the game.
``We played very tight tonight - for whatever reason,'' said Bill Pullen, the Panthers' coach. ``The two most important things are that we came from behind and that we won a close one. There was a lot of pressure out there.''
John Breedlove and Paul Rivera led Ferrum with 20 and 18 points, respectively, but two of the Panthers' most important points came on a running one-hander in the lane from Marcus Toney with 14 seconds left in the game - and no time on the shot clock.
Toney's basket increased his team's advantage to 76-73.
Despite five timeouts in a six-second span, Rose-Hulman was unable to change its points total.
Rose-Hulman and Augsburg will meet in the tournament's consolation game at 1 p.m. today.
by CNB