Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991 TAG: 9102080170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: HATTIESBURG, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
That's when the Golden Eagles snatched it back.
An 8-0 Southern Mississippi run turned a close basketball game into a comfortable one for the 12th-ranked Golden Eagles, who gave Tech its ninth loss in 10 games 91-79 before 6,785 fans at Green Coliseum.
Tech is 8-12 overall and 2-6 in the Metro Conference. The Golden Eagles (16-2, 8-1) are 8-1 at home this year and won for the 14th time in their last 15 games.
The outcome was symbolic of the fortunes of the schools' basketball programs. Tech, which leads the all-time series 11-10, won the first eight games against Southern Miss after the Golden Eagles joined the Metro in 1983. Southern Miss has won 10 of the last 13, including the past five in a row.
Tech shackled Southern Miss' top two players, holding leading scorer Darrin Chancellor to 17 points - most coming in the last five minutes - and Clarence Weatherspoon to eight points, the first time this year he hasn't scored in double figures.
But center Daron Jenkins scored a season-high 26 points and had 12 rebounds.
"We were paying a lot more attention to [Weatherspoon] and then Jenkins got going on us," Tech coach Frankie Allen said. "We got to three . . . [but] that's just it. They've got the players to make the big plays. In tonight's game, that was it."
Antony Moses led Tech with a career-high 34 points, 19 in the first half. But only one other Hokie, Jay Purcell with 12, scored in double figures.
The Hokies were coming off one of their worst shooting games of all time, a 28 percent effort against Richmond on Monday. Thursday, Tech shot better than 40 percent from the field for the first time in seven games and had the hot-shooting Golden Eagles a bit tentative with a second-half zone.
But Southern Miss snapped out of it.
"They got back in the flow of it better than we did," Tech's Corey Jackson said of the Golden Eagles' decisive run.
Not even Moses' offensive outburst, which came after he had scored 24 total points in his last three games, could lift the Hokies.
"I was pretty up for this game," Moses said. "They got some easy stickbacks by their guards that hurt us. They've got some big guys inside. They throw the ball inside a lot and pound the ball real hard."
Still, Southern Miss coach M.K. Turk wouldn't admit to any sense of security on Thursday.
"They're so quick, they run well, they have tremendous one-on-one players," Turk said. "Any team that shoots threes [3-point field goals] like they do, they're never going to be out of the ballgame. We were concerned with a 10-point lead. A nine-point lead is only three quick shots."
Southern Miss led by 10 with about 12 minutes left. But Moses' dunk got Tech to 65-57. A minute later, Tech got a steal and David Herbster scored inside for a 65-59 score.
A Chancellor miss for Southern Miss was followed by Thomas Elliott's 3-pointer for Tech, cutting the lead to 65-62 with 10 minutes left. Chancellor scored, but Rod Wheeler's two free throws made it 67-64.
Then came Southern Miss' run. Chancellor hit two free throws, and Russell Johnson stole John Rivers' pass against Southern Miss' press. Bernard Haslett followed with a baseline jumper for a 71-64 lead with 8:15 left.
After a Tech time out, Erik Wilson's layup was blocked by Weatherspoon, and center Jenkins fed Johnson on the break for a layup and a 73-64 score.
Two possessions later, Johnson hit two free throws to put Southern Miss up 75-64. Tech never got closer than nine after that.
In the first half, Moses made eight of 10 shots from the field, but the rest of the Hokies were 7-of-30 from the field.
VA. TECH MPFGFTRAFPT Purcell 325-112-247112Jackson 314-130-23139Carruth 171-30-24042Rivers 383-120-08526Moses 3214-234-481334Wheeler 80-22-21112Corker 80-20-02100Burton 10-10-00000Williams 10-10-00000Wilson 131-20-02052Elliott 83-40-02038Herbster 101-30-02012Oladotun 10-02-31002Totals 20032-7710-1540162379 S. MISSISSIPPI MPFGFTRAFPT Johnson 304-63-462111Chancellor 345-137-721117Jenkins 3511-154-6123126Rembert 123-41-32319Weatherspoon 372-74-615318Dale 122-32-20327Haslett 273-72-22419Mealer 31-20-00002Dunn 10-00-00000Lacey 40-00-20100Jones 10-00-20000Courtney 41-40-01022Totals 20032-6123-3441201091 Rebounds include team rebounds Score by periods: Virginia Tech 37-42-79 Southern Mississippi 46-45-91
Three-point goals - Virginia Tech: Purcell 0-4, Jackson 1-3, Rivers 0-2, Moses 2-8, Wheeler 0-2, Burton 0-1, Elliott 2-2, Totals 5-22. Southern Mississippi: Chancellor 0-1, Rembert 2-3, Dale 1-1, Haslett 1-3, Totals 4-8.
Turnovers - Virginia Tech 12 (Purcell, Jackson, Rivers 2); Southern Mississippi 16 (Chancellor 6). Blocked shots - Virginia Tech 4 (Wilson 2); Southern Mississippi 2 (Weatherspoon 2). Steals - Virginia Tech 9 (Rivers 3); Southern Mississippi 6 (six with 1).
Technical fouls - None. Officials - Jag, Croft, Randall. Attendance - 6,785.
by CNB