Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech's little package of attitude, Rod Wheeler, turned the meek Hokies into a struttin' bunch on Thursday.
Tech, devoid of any momentum from its upset at Florida State last Saturday, was offensively inept for 30 minutes against South Carolina and seemed headed for another late-season defeat. Then two Wheeler 3-pointers tied the game and sparked the Hokies, who held on for a 69-64 Metro Conference basketball victory over the short-handed Gamecocks.
"That's all it takes, for somebody to do something great," said Wheeler, who missed his first three long-range attempts but hit three of his last four. "I've got confidence in my shot. I can't just give up the 3-point shot. Maybe I'll get a turnover if I try to pass."
The Gamecocks helped Tech by going 6-of-12 from the free-throw line in the second half, and Tech's jump-out trapping defense helped force 13 South Carolina turnovers in the 20 minutes. Several miscues were committed by the only two scholarship guards on the Gamecock's roster, Jo Jo English and Bojan Popovic, each of whom was in foul trouble.> half.
The Hokies, though, did not appear to be in the mood to captilize until Wheeler fired up the 3-pointers - and the troops. Before he hit back-to-back bonus shots to tie it at 42 with 9:08 to go, the teams had combined for 78 points in 30 minutes. The teams combined to score 55 points in the last 10 minutes of the game: Tech had 33 of those.
For Tech, it was no textbook win.
"That's like when you roll it down the fairway four times and chip it in," Tech assistant coach Jim Baker said. "That's par."
Or, if you're the opponent, that's a nightmare.
"You could describe that one as, `We blew it,' " said coach George Felton, whose Gamecocks are without starters Barry Manning and Joe Rhett because of medical problems. "Our offense was our own worst enemy."
"They ran a jump [trapping defense], but it was nothing that should've rattled us. There were a lot of turnovers that were just unforced turnovers."
Wheeler covered for his high-rent teammate, Bimbo Coles, who had a discount night in sinking just six of 23 shots. Coles, however, broke the Division I state all-time scoring record with his third point, passing VMI's Gay Elmore. And he set a record for most points scored in a season by a Hokie, passing Dell Curry's 722 points in 1986-86.
Coles had seven points in the last 3:52, including two free throws with 18 seconds left that gave the Hokies a 67-64 lead.
"Rod really got us going," Coles said. "Once he did that, we just kept playing and playing. We just wanted it, and the shots started falling at the end."
Two big plays socked ithe Gamecocks. With Tech ahead 60-59, Coles -0-for-8 from beyond the arc at the time - hit a top-of-the-key 3-pointer with two seconds left on the shot clock. Then, with 29 seconds left and Tech up 63-61, Dirk Williams broke free and took a court-length inbounds pass from John Rivers for a dunk.
Well before that, Tech took a 49-44 lead with 7:41 left on a Wheeler 3-pointer, but the Gamecocks came back and led 51-49 with 5:42 to go on Micheal Glover's 3-pointer. A dunk by David Herbster tied it, but Glover's jumper gave the Gamecock's a 53-51 lead with 5:09 left.
Wheeler's single free throw made it a one-point game, and iGlover lost the rebound out of bounds to Tech. Rivers lobbed the inbounds pass to Williams, who dunked to give the Hokies 54-53 lead with 4:34 left.
Glover's jumper put South Carolina ahead, but Coles' spinning layup gave Tech a 56-55 edge with 3:52 left. Tech didn't trail again, although Glover's 3-pointer made it 65-64 Hokies with 24 seconds left. Then, Coles was fouled and hit both free throws. South Carolina's Jo Jo English missed a 3-pointer, and Coles was fouled again but missed the one-and-one.
English's desperation 3-pointer was partially blocked by Coles and fell short. Tech's J.J. Burton finished the scoring with two free throws.
"Once we got control of the game and got even," Tech coach Frankie Allen said, "I thought we executed the way we needed to down the stretch."
S. CAROLINA MPFGFTRAFPT Glover 348-110-062317Sykes 363-115-964211Roulston 294-61-310159English 406-162-556415Popovic 37 1-30-08552Leso 164-72-240210Eggers 60-0 1000Ignjatovic 10-00-00000Waite 10-00-00000Totals 20026-5410-1045182164 VA. TECH MPFGFTRAFPT Williams 336-134-682416Rivers 292-53-44337Herbster 292-61-28045Burton 233-72-231210Coles 396-237-1066420Oladotun 100-10-02020Wheeler 3-91-212110Elliott 110-20-00000Moses 70-11-43011Totals 20022-6719-3042142169 Rebounds include team rebounds Score by periods: South Carolina34-30-64 Virginia Tech26-43-69
Three-point goals - South Carolina: Glover 1-1, English 1-7, Popovic 0-1, Totals 2-9; Virginia Tech: Williams 0-2, Burton 2-4, Coles 1-9, Wheeler 3-7, Totals 6-22.
Turnovers - South Carolina 22 (Sykes 5); Virginia Tech 13 (Coles 5). Blocked shots - South Carolina 6 (Roulston 3); Virginia Tech 8 (Williams, Rivers 3). Steals - South Carolina 3 (English 2); Virginia Tech 8 (Rivers, Herbster 2).
Technical fouls - None. Officials - Tanner, Prescott, Smith. Attendance - 5,638.
by CNB