Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003032661
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ASHEVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
But as a representation of the Southern Conference Tournament game Friday at the Asheville Civic Center, it said everything.
"That one shot typified the whole game," said Mack McCarthy, UTC's coach. "We fouled him, blocked it and it still went down.
Williams' 15-foot shot was the highlight of a blistering second-half shooting performance that propelled the fourth-seeded Keydets (14-14) into a semifinal game against top-seeded East Tennessee Stat at 1:07 p.m. today.
VMI shot 67.9 percent in the second half. In one stretch, the Keydets sank 14 of 16 shots to push a five-point lead to 14 on Williams' jumper with 4:05 remaining.
"We've been in situations like this before," said Williams, who moved into third place on VMI's all-time scoring list, with 1,613 career points. "We've made those type of runs before."
Ramon Williams made 10 of 16 shots and had a game-high 26 points. Twin brother Damon Williams didn't nearly as well (9-of-19), but he scored 11 of his 20 points during the decisive run.
"The first half I was rushing. My feet weren't set and I was shooting off-balance," said Damon Williams, who was 6-of-10 in the second half. "The second half I was trying to penetrate and get a better shot on the drive."
Sophomore point guard Percy Covington contributed 14 points and eight assists, and freshman forward Lewis Preston came off the bench to score nine points, grab six rebounds and block five shots.
However, as important as the offensive outburst was, VMI really won the game with defense.
Junior forward Derrick Kirce scored 24 points to lead UTC (14-14), but he was the Moccasins' only double-figures scorer.
The Williamses held UTC's other top scorers - guard Eric Spivey and forward Tommy Bankston - to 13 points combined.
"Ramon and Damon obviously played good defense in the second half," said Joe Cantafio, VMI's coach. "We were changing defenses every other time down the court. Kirce is going to get his points. I didn't want Bankston and Spivey to have a big game."
Although Kirce put forth an outstanding effort, the Keydets contained him in the second half. He had 14 of his 24 points and seven of his 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
After starting in man-to-man defense, Cantafio switched to the same triangle-and-two he used to neutralize Kirce in the Keydets' 75-72 victory at Cameron Hall.
By fronting Kirce with quick-footed Covington and backing him with center Mark Craft and either Preston or Lennon Mings, VMI kept Kirce virtually invisible for the final 11 minutes of the game. His last points came with 10:42 remaining.
"They did a great job with the [triangle-and-two]," McCarthy said. "But we still got good shots. We just didn't make them. That was the key. If we were in the lead, they wouldn't have been able to do that."
UTC couldn't hit the floor in the first half. Although the Mocs outrebounded VMI 29-17, including 14 offensive rebounds, they trailed 34-28 at the half. That was because they shot just 27.3 percent.
"Offensively, things would have been different if the ball had just went in for us," McCarthy said. "We were 9-for-33, and I honestly can't remember us taking a bad shot.
"We had 14 offensive rebounds and only 28 points. You should have at least 20 points alone with that many offensive rebounds."
Cantafio said, "We were awful in the first five minutes. When you come into a tournament, you're going to be a bit jittery.
"I was tickled to death to have a six-point lead after we had played so bad. I was worried at halftime when I saw they just shot 27 percent, because I knew they wouldn't continue that.
"In the second half, they shot 51 percent. Luckily, we shot 68."
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB