THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 5, 1994 TAG: 9412050150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Center Odell Hodge is out indefinitely with a knee injury and will miss a start for the first time in his college career when Old Dominion's basketball team meets Tulane at 8 tonight.
Hodge was injured in the first half of the Monarchs' 88-74 loss at Southern Illinois Saturday when he caught a pass on a fast break and collided with the Salukis' Ian Stewart. Hodge, the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year last season, fell to the floor, clutching his left knee.
``When he grabbed the back of his knee, I was thinking ACL (anterior cruciate ligament),'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said.
A torn ACL would end Hodge's season. ODU trainer Scott Johnson said Sunday he does not yet know the severity of Hodge's injury. Further tests will be performedafter the Monarchs return to Norfolk on Tuesday. Johnson said a magnetic resonance imaging test will be done on Hodge, who also will be examined by orthopedic doctor John Schaffer.
``We don't know structurally what damage is in there yet,'' Johnson said, adding there is a possibility the injury is to the ACL.
Hodge said he's never had a serious injury but thought when he went down that the streak of good fortune had ended.
``We hit and it popped when I was falling,'' said Hodge, who took a wheelchair from the gate to the baggage claim area after ODU's flight to New Orleans on Sunday. ``I thought I blew it out. Thank God I didn't.''
Senior David Harvey, who started 10 games last season, likely will start tonight in place of Hodge, whose inside scoring and rebounding will be missed against a good Tulane team (3-1).
``They're probably the best team we've faced this year,'' Capel said. ``It's going to be very difficult.''
TOUGH TEST: Petey Sessoms knows what awaits ODU tonight if it takes the same approach to the game at Tulane that it did at Southern Illinois on Saturday.
``It's going to be an even tougher ballgame down there,'' Sessoms said after the loss to the Salukis, which matched the Monarchs' worst defeat of the last two seasons. ``If we're not mentally prepared, we can look forward to a blowout.''
Mentally, physically, emotionally - you name it, SIU beat the Monarchs at it Saturday. Capel said his team was outhustled, outplayed and outsmarted.
``We were very surprised at how poorly our kids competed,'' Capel said. ``It was just a good ol' fashioned butt-kicking.''
Capel was particularly upset at Sessoms, who led the Monarchs in rebounding with nine and tied with Mario Mullen to lead the team in scoring with 21 points. But with 10:20 to play Sessoms made a mistake that nixed ODU's comeback chance.
The Monarchs trailed by at least 10 points in the game's final 26 minutes and by as much as 22. But midway through the second half they had cut the deficit to 11 before Sessoms was assessed a technical foul for disputing a foul call against Mullen. The Salukis made all four free throws, then got the ball out of bounds and made a slam dunk that buried ODU.
``If that had been a freshman, I could have lived with it,'' Capel said. ``We had fought hard and cut it to 11, and before we could touch the ball again we were down 17. I was very disappointed in Petey Sessoms for putting his team in that position, and I told him so.''
Sessoms said he was complaining that SIU's Marcus Timmons hung on the rim before the foul call, but he acknowledged he should have clammed up.
``I made a lot of big mistakes, especially that tech,'' Sessoms said.
NO SPARK: Capel said Old Dominion never got in sync offensively against Southern Illinois and the inexperience of the point guard position showed. He was most disappointed in the seniors, who he said failed to provide the leadership and demand the intensity ODU needed against the Salukis.
That was evident every time there was a loose ball on the floor and on the backboards (41-35 SIU edge). ODU (2-2) has been outrebounded in its two losses and has won the battle of the boards in its two victories.
``We're not going to be a very good basketball team if we don't play harder than our opponent,'' Capel said.
STREAK STOPPED: Sessoms missed his second free throw attempt Saturday, halting at 25 his string of consecutive free throws made. ODU's record is 33 by Donald Anderson.
ALMA MATER: ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett may have enjoyed the trip to Southern Illinois more than any of the other Monarchs. Jarrett is a 1959 SIU graduate, and he said it was his first trip back to Carbondale in 31 years. by CNB