Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003022899
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN WHITE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: ROCK LENGTH: Medium
"This is all about wanting to get some respect," said Radford's Ron Shelburne, a junior center from Pulaski County High. "We only won three conference games and nobody respects us, but if we can win this thing down here, we can get that respect."
The Highlanders finished last in the seven-team conference with a 3-9 record and are 7-21 overall.
"This is obviously a great win for us," said coach Oliver Purnell, whose Radford team meets North Carolina-Asheville, a 79-73 winner over Augusta, in tonight's semifinal round. "If you had told me before today [Thursday] that we would beat Campbell by 24 points, I'd have said you were crazy."
The victory was Radford's second in two weeks against the Camels, who finished 15-13.
Radford, after a school-record 11-game losing streak, has won three of its last five games and has its sights set on two more victories - and the tournament championship.
"Our goal is to be on top at the end, and we took a big step in that direction today," Purnell said. "The key to us reaching that is our rebounding. In our last four games, we have outrebounded teams by 10 or more."
On Thursday, Radford outrebounded the Camels 48-38 and worked the ball to 6-foot-7 Shelburne for a game-high 20 points.
Stephen Barber added 10, and Radford held Campbell's top two scorers - Brad Childress and Mark Mocnik - to seven total points, none in the first half.
"Both teams had the early jitters," said coach Billy Lee, whose Camels trailed 10-8 midway through the first half. "They came out of it, and we didn't."
Mocnik missed his first six shots and finished 1-of-12 from the floor. Childress was 1-of-9 and shot only twice in the first half as Radford took a 30-16 lead.
"Childress is the key to this team, and we didn't get Childress as many good shots as we'd like," Lee said. "But we got good shots everywhere else, but we didn't make them."
Campbell set a tournament record for worst field-goal shooting percentage (28.1).
"This is the first tournament for seven of our top nine players, and it certainly looked like it. Our youth showed," Lee said. "We couldn't shoot it in the ocean if we were standing knee deep in it."
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB