Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003123016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Oliver, named most valuable player in the ACC championship, was wearing one of the nets around his neck Sunday after helping Tech past Virginia 70-61 before 23,530 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
The Yellow Jackets, winning their second ACC championship since joining the league in 1980, spoiled UVa's effort to reward coach Terry Holland with a second ACC title in his 16th and final season.
Oliver, who was third in the conference in scoring but had to settle for second-team All-ACC, injured his left ankle with more than 13 minutes left but returned to the floor with 8:52 left and Tech nursing a 48-46 lead.
"I told the trainer that, regardless of how bad it was, if I had to hobble out there I was going to play," Oliver said. "I just said, `To hell with it.'
"I didn't want the guys to think that we had fought so long together and I wasn't going to be out there. I wanted to go back even if I couldn't contribute."
Oliver made his presence felt when his 3-pointer with 4:34 left gave the Yellow Jackets their largest lead of the game at 56-46.
"It didn't bother me not making All-ACC," said Oliver, whose teammates, Dennis Scott and Kenny Anderson, made the first team. "I don't play basketball for the honors. I do it because I enjoy it.
"I was disappointed at first, but not to the point where I said, `This is totally unfair.' I knew we had the tournament coming up and the best way for me to react was to come in and do all I could to help the team win."
Oliver was joined on the all-tournament first team by Scott, Anderson, Virginia's Bryant Stith and Phil Henderson of Duke. UVa had three players on the second team: Anthony Oliver, Kenny Turner and John Crotty.
Brian Oliver, who was 11-of-37 in a pair of regular-season losses to the Cavaliers, started Sunday's game by banking in a pair of 3-point shots that prompted an exchange with NBC commentator Al McGuire.
"After the first shot, he told me, `You didn't call that,' " Oliver said. "After the second one, I told him, `It's not luck if you do it twice.' But I'm not going to lie. I wasn't trying to bank [them]."
UVa had set up a storybook finale for its coach with upset victories over defending champion North Carolina and regular-season champion Clemson, but the Cavaliers could not produce an appropriate ending.
After closing to 44-43 with 12:24 remaining, Virginia missed 17 of its next 18 shots in a return of the poor outside shooting that had plagued the team in several late-season losses.
"It looked like we were on schedule for another exciting finish until we ran into that roadblock," Holland said. "Our defense was good enough to keep us in the game, although we weren't exactly burning it up during any stretch.
"I told the team after the game: `You did exactly what I asked you to do.' We controlled all the things we could control. We can't control whether the ball goes in the basket."
The Cavaliers held Georgia Tech to 40.4-percent shooting from the field, outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 45-39 and committed only seven turnovers. But there was no getting around UVa's 34.3-percent shooting.
It marked the fourth time in the last eight games that Virginia has shot less than 35 percent from the field, and the Cavaliers have lost all four games. UVa is on a pace to have its worst field-goal percentage in the last 23 years.
Still, Virginia (19-11) is headed to the NCAA Tournament, where it will meet Notre Dame (16-12) at 9:30 p.m. Friday in Richmond, Va. Moreover, Sunday's game didn't get away from the Cavaliers until the last five minutes.
"We kept missing, but Virginia kept missing, too," Cremins said. "I didn't know if we'd have another chance, but when we did, we made the most of it."
Tech increased its lead to 14 points on three occasions before UVa scored the last five points of the game. Of the Cavaliers' 12 second-half field goals, six came in the final 2:07.
"We're not going to make any excuses for our low shooting percentage," said Stith, who led the Cavaliers with 17 points but was 7-of-21 from the field. "We're not a very good perimeter-shooting team. Today, it really cost us."
It didn't help matters that Virginia lacked an inside game - and has lacked one for most of the season. The Cavaliers were 5-of-25 on 3-point attempts, missing 10 in a row during one stretch.
"A lot of it is related to our inability to make the big guys stay at home," Holland said. "Let's face it, we're a small team. It's a little different with a 6-8 guy running at you instead of a 6-4 guy."
Holland, who will become the athletic director at Davidson, said he had no special feelings about his last ACC Tournament game. However, the victory provided redemption for Cremins, who had experienced his most crushing defeat as a player when the ACC Tournament was last played in Charlotte in 1970.
"I felt like I owed Charlotte one," said Cremins, whose college career ended here when South Carolina was beaten by North Carolina State 42-39 in double overtime in the 1970 ACC championship game.
Cremins, whose Yellow Jackets (24-6) will make their sixth straight trip to the NCAAs, first won the ACC Tournament in 1985 but had been eliminated in the first round for three straight years.
It was the fourth consecutive loss in an ACC championship game for the Cavaliers, whose lone title was in 1976. Virginia, picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, completed the regular season in a three-way tie for fifth.
"I don't think we should take the attitude that we were lucky to be here," said Matt Blundin, who had 12 rebounds. "We weren't like, `We got this far. Thanks for inviting us.' We were here to win."
\ VIRGINIA MPFGFTRAFPT Turner 385-152- 4112115Stith 397-212- 391017Jeffries 150- 11- 23011Oliver 266-130- 060413Crotty 352- 93- 42647Blundin 271- 40- 012042Smith 50- 00- 00100Cooke 42- 30- 01024Kirby 111- 40- 01152Totals 20024-708-1345112161\ GA. TECH MPFGFTRAFPT 407-152- 2131218Mackey 293- 73- 47209McNeil 211- 22- 44154Anderson 407-170- 134318Oliver 365-153- 441417Brown 310- 04- 52224Munlyn 30- 10- 02000Totals 20023-5714-2039111370Virginia30-31-61 Ga. Tech33-37-70
Three-point goals-Virginia 5-25 (Turner 3-7, Stith 1-6, Oliver 1-3, Crotty 0-6, Cooke 0-1, Kirby 0-2); Georgia Tech 10-25 (Scott 2-7, Anderson 4-10, Oliver 4-8). Turnovers-Virginia 7, Georgia Tech 7.
Technical fouls-None. Officials-Paparo, Wirtz, Housman. A-23,530.
by CNB