THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502050173
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
With about two minutes left in a bloodletting at James Madison on Saturday, Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel turned to his five starters, who were already on the bench.
``He told us to remember this feeling of our first loss in the CAA,'' ODU center David Harvey said. ``It was a real hurt feeling, a feeling none of us want to feel again.''
The Dukes put a hurting on the Monarchs with a 95-79 victory before a raucous crowd of 7,000 at the JMU Convocation Center. It marked the end of an impressive streak for the Monarchs, and the extension of one for both JMU and the Colonial Athletic Association.
The loss snapped Old Dominion's seven-game winning streak and was the Monarchs' first in CAA play. No team has ever gone undefeated in conference play in the CAA's 10-year existence. ODU, which won its first seven league games by an average of 10.1 points, won't be the first to do so.
ODU (12-9, 7-1) has a one-game lead over the Dukes (11-7, 6-2) with six games to play in the conference regular season.
James Madison extended its home winning streak against CAA foes to 19. The Dukes are 37-2 against the league the past six seasons in the Convocation Center.
``We needed this one,'' said JMU point guard Darren McLinton, who scored a career-high 22 points and made all five of his 3-point tries. ``They got us down in Norfolk pretty bad and they were celebrating.''
Ten days earlier, the Monarchs dispatched the Dukes with ease in a 14-point victory at Scope.
``We were playing at home today, that was the biggest adjustment,'' Dukes' coach Lefty Driesell said. ``And we played man-for-man defense and got after them. The last game, I had a brainstorm about playing a little combination defense and playing zone, and they ate that up.''
Tenacious defense was the story of ODU's win at Scope. So it was for the Dukes at home. Driesell called it his team's best defensive effort of the season.
James Madison held Petey Sessoms without a field goal in the first half - he scored 19 in the game's final 16 minutes to finish with 23 - and held Mike Jones scoreless in the second half after he had 12 in the opening 20 minutes.
``We did a great job on them, or else they stayed up too late last night or something,'' Driesell said of Sessoms and Jones.
The Monarchs didn't stay with the Dukes long Saturday. After the Monarchs took a 7-2 lead, JMU rattled off 17 consecutive points. ODU got back within three before the Dukes outscored them, 24-15, to close the half with a 44-32 lead. James Madison made six shots in a row at one point and nine of its final 11.
The impressive thing about that stretch was the Dukes did it with three starters - including leading scorers Louis Rowe and Kent Culuko - on the bench.
``That kind of shocked me,'' Harvey said. ``That was when they played their best defense.''
James Madison shot 66.7 percent in the first half, and finished at 61.8 percent, the best shooting against ODU this season.
``They really shot the ball well,'' Capel said. ``They could have beaten almost anybody in the country shooting like that, especially in the first half.''
The second half was more of the same. The Monarchs cut the deficit to seven briefly with 15 minutes to play, but over the next 11 minutes James Madison outscored ODU, 31-15.
Old Dominion had been making an impression with its defense in league play, particularly in its last three outings when James Madison, Richmond and East Carolina had averaged 59 points.
The Dukes roared past that total with 12 1/2 minutes to play. Only North Carolina, with 98 points, has scored more against the Monarchs this season.
The Dukes enjoyed a 34-24 rebound edge and outplayed ODU's interior men on both ends of the floor. Joining McLinton in double-figures were Rowe (21 points) and Culuko (13), but eight Dukes scored six points or more.
``They came out fired up,'' Sessoms said. ``They were killing us on the boards. I thought we were playing good defense, but it seemed like they were hitting all their shots. Anytime their post players can step out and hit the jump shot, when they're shooting like that it's hard to beat them.''
ODU hopes to have another chance. There's a good possibility the teams could meet in the CAA tournament title game a month from Monday in Richmond.
``Just like the first one was not a deciding game, this is not a deciding game,'' Capel said. ``There's still a lot of basketball left to be played.'' by CNB