Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991 TAG: 9103100124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
The Cavaliers made up a 14-point halftime deficit, but never grabbed the lead before succumbing to North Carolina 76-71 in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament at the Charlotte Coliseum.
The seventh-ranked Tar Heels (24-5) will meet No. 6-ranked and top-seeded Duke in the championship game at 2:30 p.m. today at the Charlotte Coliseum. The Blue Devils (26-6) advanced with a 93-72 victory against North Carolina State.
It looked as if Saturday's second semifinal would be equally lopsided when Carolina took a 43-29 lead at the half, and it was lopsided when you consider the final rebounding margin (51-29).
Nevertheless, UVa outscored the Tar Heels 9-0 to start the second half and it was a 61-61 game when the Cavaliers' Bryant Stith scored inside and was fouled with 4:29 left.
Stith missed the free throw, Rick Fox made a 3-pointer for Carolina at the other end and the Tar Heels were able to hold on, but not without a few nervous moments.
King Rice missed the front of a one-and-one with 9.1 seconds remaining and the Tar Heels ahead 74-71, but Rice swiped the ball from John Crotty at mid-court and fed Fox for a layup as time expired.
"I was looking to get it ahead to Bryant," Crotty said. "King Rice jumped in front of me, reached in and got a piece of my arm and nothing was called."
It was a bittersweet ending for Crotty, who made eight of 11 shots from the field and kept the Cavaliers in the game on a day when they shot 40 percent (28-of-70), 35.3 percent (12-of-34) in the first half.
"I think everybody and his mother has been saying we aren't any good," Crotty said, "but I think we came in here and put two pretty good efforts back-to-back. Carolina beat us; we didn't beat ourselves."
After opening the tournament with a 70-66 victory against Wake Forest, the Cavaliers came back some 16 hours later and battled Carolina on even terms for the first 10 minutes.
It was 19-19 before the Tar Heels went on an 18-4 run that featured field goals by six different players. Many came on stickbacks as Carolina outrebounded the Cavaliers 30-11 for the half.
"I thought in the first half our players competed as hard as I've ever seen," said North Carolina coach Dean Smith, whose Tar Heels lost to Virginia in the first round of the 1990 ACC Tournament.
"We would go 1-for-3 from the field [on several possessions], but it was really like 1-for-1 because we would miss and then fight and put it back in."
Crotty was Virginia's only offense in the first half, going 4-of-5 from the field, while the rest of his teammates were 8-of-29.
Stith made two of his first 10 shots from the field and Turner was 1-of-10 at one point, but it wasn't long before the Cavaliers got back in the game as Carolina failed to score on its first seven second-half possessions.
"I feel like we played at mid-season form today," said Stith, referring to a stretch of 15 victories in 17 games. "But we need to hit our open shots, particularly myself.
"I think if I had been hitting my shots this afternoon, it would have been a much different story. But we still were able to hang in there and keep the game close right down to the wire."
Stith finished with 21 points, but was only 8-of-24 from the field. He has gone 20-of-58 over the past three games and had missed 17 straight 3-pointers before he hit with nine seconds left to make it 74-71.
"I can't explain it," Stith said. "I don't think Charlotte Coliseum was too kind to me. I've missed a lot of big shots, but I would have wanted to take the shot at the end of regulation."
Crotty led the Cavaliers with his second straight 23-point outing and Turner contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, including 11 points and seven rebounds in the second half.
Fox and Pete Chilcutt shared game scoring honors for Carolina with 13 points, but Fox set a personal high with 15 rebounds and Chilcutt added 11.
"I sort of blame myself for what happened in the second half," said Carolina forward George Lynch, a sophomore from Roanoke, Va. "I feel like I started a lot of the trouble with the fouls."
Lynch picked up his fourth foul with 16:26 remaining, and 7-foot freshman Eric Montross got his fourth shortly thereafter, putting UVa in the bonus with 14:10 left.
"It messed up our chemistry; it messed up the way Coach likes to substitute and it took us off the boards," Lynch said. "Kenny Turner really hurt us on the offensive boards."
The Cavaliers dropped to 21-11, but they almost certainly will receive an at-large bid today to the NCAA Tournament. Jones was encouraged by the Cavaliers' comeback."
"I think we played a lot of confidence and reversed the roles in the second half," said Jones, whose team had blown double-figure leads in three of its losses. "In the second half today, we were the aggressor.
"We'd obviously like to be shooting the ball better. But what you saw today is that we didn't shoot well and we still were able to give a very good basketball team a real run." see microfilm for box score
by CNB