THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050320
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Beating Colonial Athletic Association teams at the Richmond Coliseum came easy most of the season for Virginia Commonwealth.
But nothing came easy for the Rams when an NCAA tournament bid was at stake Monday night.
UNC-Wilmington's defense dictated the game's tempo and kept the score in the range the Seahawks preferred. But VCU prevailed 46-43 in front of 8,300 fans at the Rams' home arena, where they had won their previous 10 games against CAA foes by an average of 15.9 points.
VCU (24-8) is off to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985, and the first time in 59-year-old coach Sonny Smith's tenure.
``(Athletic director Dick) Sander hired me to do this and it took me a hell of a long time to get it done,'' said Smith, who is in his seventh season at VCU after having taken Auburn to the NCAA Tournament five times. ``What I really wanted to do was win this thing for Dr. Sander. He's had to take a lot of heat for the things I haven't gotten done. For the program, this was badly needed.''
It was the lowest scoring conference tournament title game since James Madison beat William and Mary 41-38 in 1983, when the league was known as the ECAC South. UNC-Wilmington - which ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense - could not have scripted it any better, save for the final scene when delirious Rams fans flooded the court.
``The whole time I felt we could win,'' UNCW's Darren Moore said. ``That's in our range of scoring in games.''
VCU's Ivan Chappell, a senior from Chesapeake's Western Branch High School, made four critical free throws in the game's final minute. He rebounded his own missed shot and was fouled by Lamont Franklin with 37.8 seconds left. He made both free throws for a 44-40 VCU lead.
Stan Simmons, who had a game-high 17 points and five 3-pointers, nailed a trey with 19.5 seconds left to cut it to one.
``I never, ever thought we'd lose the game - honestly didn't - until Simmons made that 3,'' Smith said. ``Then I got a little shaky.''
Chappell looked calm when he was fouled again with 12.5 seconds remaining.
He nailed both free throws for a three-point lead and walked past midcourt, stopped and blew a kiss toward the Seahawks' student section.
``It had me scared a little bit,'' Chappell said of the close call with the third-seeded Seahawks (13-16), who led 26-23 at the half. VCU took the lead for good early in the second half, but never enjoyed more than a four-point edge in the game's final 11:52.
The Seahawks' final chance to force overtime was thwarted when VCU's Ben Peabody stripped the ball from Simmons about 30 feet from the basket with three seconds remaining.
Forward Bernard Hopkins, who led the Rams with 12 points and 12 rebounds, was voted tournament's most valuable player. Peabody, Moore and Simmons were also on the team, which was rounded out by Old Dominion's Joe Bunn and James Madison's Darren McLinton. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sherman Hamilton of Virginia Commonwealth celebrates the Rams' 46-43
victory over UNC-Wilmington on Monday..
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