Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992 TAG: 9201090392
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
UNC CHARLOTTE TURNS BACK HOKIES IN FINAL MINUTES
Henry Williams' love affair with the 3-point shot continued Wednesday at Virginia Tech's expense.Consecutive bonus shots by UNC Charlotte's 6-foot-2 senior guard in the last three minutes of the game slam-dunked the Hokies' last gasp as the 22nd-ranked 49ers won their inaugural Metro Conference game, 62-53 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
"Their go-to guy late killed us," Tech coach Bill Foster said. "We'd kept him quiet, in a sense. He made two big baskets when he had to."
The Hokies, who had won four of their last six games, dropped to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the Metro. UNCC won its 10th straight and is 10-1 and 1-0.
Williams, who averages eight 3-point attempts per game, led all scorers with 22 points, including 4 of 8 3-pointers. John Rivers led Tech with 13 points and Thomas Elliott had 12.
The teams traded the lead for much of the second half. Tech's last lead came with 8:44 left on Jimmy Carruth's inside shot that made it 45-44.
Williams then ducked inside Jay Purcell and hit a hanging jumper, drawing the foul from behind on Purcell. Williams' free throw made it 47-45 UNCC with 8:17 left.
A 3-pointer by Delano Johnson gave UNCC a 50-45 lead with 6:12 left, and neither team scored again until Tech's John Rivers made a free throw with 4:20 to go.
With 3:13 left, UNCC led 52-48 after Rivers' two free throws. Then Williams hit a 3-pointer after Don Corker dropped inside to double-team the post. Tech's Erik Wilson answered with a trey, but Williams popped out off a pick on the left wing and swished another long one to make it 58-51 with 2:16 left.
The game matched the Metro's top two defensive teams. Tech entered the game leading the league in defensive field goal percentage (38.3 percent), and UNCC was second at 40.3 percent. Tech shot 42 percent from the field and held UNCC to 38.6 percent.
Tech coach Bill Foster coached opposite UNCC's Jeff Mullins, who last year broke Foster's all-time victory record at UNCC. Foster entered the game 2-0 against his former team and Mullins was 0-2 against the Hokies.
Tech was in its 14th Metro Conference opening game, of which it had won 10 before Wednesday.
In the first half, Tech forward John Rivers passed Perry Young and moved into seventh place among Tech's all-time rebounding leaders.
In the first half, Tech trailed 2-0, took a 3-2 lead on Don Corker's 3-pointer with 18:20 left and didn't trail again until Williams' 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the half.
Thanks to Williams' shot, UNCC took a 26-24 lead into halftime.
Rivers led Tech with eight points at halftime and Purcell had five assists. Williams, who played for the U.S. team in the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle and World Games in Argentina, had 11 points at halftime.
The 49ers enjoyed a 12-4 advantage in free throws attempted at halftime.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL