Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020291
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: ANDERSON, S. C. LENGTH: Medium
The Jaguars, stepping down to Division II next year, will be staying with the big guys for a while longer by beating Radford University 69-56 Friday night in the semifinals of the Big South Conference tournament.
Augusta will celebrate what could be its final game at this level with a nationally televised matchup on ESPN at noon today against Coastal Carolina for the league title. Coastal, the top seed, held off stubborn Davidson 58-55 in the first semifinal.
Second-seeded Radford (22-7), which had its best season ever in Division I, was impaled on the sword of poor shooting and inadequate rebounding. Augusta (14-15) controlled the backboards by a 46-35 margin. More importantly, 17 of those came at the offensive end, which helped the Jaguars offset some spotty shooting.
"[Rebounding] has been our problem all year long," said Radford center Ron Shelburne, who played his final college game. "It's a glaring weakness and eventually it's going to catch up with you at the worst possible time. Augusta had a bunch of jumping jacks in there."
The pair who went the highest were forward Keenan Mann and center Derek Stewart, who had 12 rebounds each. Of their 24, 15 came at the offensive end. Mann scored 24 points and Stewart, who had nine offensive rebounds, added 10 points.
"Those two get it going and they're tough to beat," Radford coach Oliver Purnell said. "You have a hard time matching up with them."
Radford led by 10 points midway through the first half, but mistakes and missed shots allowed the Jags to get back into the game. Radford had two field goals in the last eight minutes of the half as Augusta went on a 19-7 run to take a 32-27 lead.
Radford never led again, although it was as close as one point. Augusta missed 10 of 21 free throws in the second half, but Radford could not take advantage.
"It might have been one of the worst displays of free-throw shooting in NCAA history," Augusta coach Clint Bryant said.
Augusta will play its fifth game in seven days today.
"We got beat by a better team tonight," Purnell said.
Radford got 20 points from Doug Day and 16 from Shelburne, 10 coming in the second half. Day was forced to fire away from long range with increasing urgency late in the game and finished 4-of-15 from 3-point range.
Tyrone Travis had 11 rebounds for Radford. see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB