Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992 TAG: 9201090472
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
UNC CHARLOTTE 3-POINTERS SINK HOKIES IN FINAL MINUTES
Around the Metro Conference, Henry Williams' promise should not go unheeded."Give me an inch or two," UNC Charlotte's 6-foot-2 senior guard said, "and I'm going to shoot it."
Virginia Tech believes. Consecutive 3-pointers by Williams in the last three minutes Wednesday dunked the Hokies as the 22nd-ranked 49ers won their first-ever Metro basketball game 62-53 in front of 7,951 fans 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 past six games, dropped to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the Metro. UNCC (10-1, 1-0) won its 10th straight, its longest streak since the 1976-77 Final Four team won 12 in a row.
Williams, who averages eight 3-point attempts per game, led all scorers with 22 points, including 4-of-8 shooting on 3-point attempts.
Williams' first dagger came with 2:50 left to put UNCC ahead 55-48. Tech's Don Corker, who had helped check Williams to that point, had dropped inside to double-team the post and given Williams his inch.
Williams, who played for the U.S. team in the Goodwill Games in Seattle and World Games in Argentina in 1990, shoots 38 percent from 3-point range and averages 20 points per game.
"Nobody was supposed to leave him anytime," Foster said. "No help off Henry Williams."
Corker remembered, too late.
"It was my natural instincts [to double-team]," he said. "I tried to get back in time . . . "
After Tech's Erik Wilson struck with a 3-pointer to make it 55-51 with 2:37 to go, Williams popped out off a pick on the left wing and swished another long one to make it 58-51 with 2:16 left.
Tech was out of it then, much to UNCC's relief. Before Williams' two-shot spurt, the school's third all-time leading scorer had 14 points on 4-of-12 field-goal shooting overall.
"They played me just as strong as anybody I've ever played," said Williams, guarded much of the night by Corker. "At the end, I got a little bit smarter. Instead of trying to overpower them, I tried to outquick them."
Tech was hammered rebounding 44-27 - losing the offensive rebound battle 15-4 - but the perimeter was as much the story. Guards Williams, Delano Johnson and James Terrell used their quickness as UNCC complemented its full-time overplay halfcourt defense with an occasional full-court press.
Foster pointed out that Tech had only 13 turnovers, but at times the Hokies' offense seemed to break down.
"They made it tough for us on the perimeter," Tech's Jay Purcell said. "But we didn't move on offense."
Nevertheless, Tech led for most of the first half and part of the second. The game matched the Metro's top two defensive teams, and it showed when a total of 50 points were scored before halftime.
Tech trailed 2-0, took a 3-2 lead on Corker's 3-pointer with 18:20 left and didn't trail again until Williams' 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the half. Williams' shot gave UNCC a 26-24 lead at the break.
Both offenses sizzled for a spell after the frustrating first half. The teams combined for 21 points in the first four minutes of the second half, with Tech converting on its first six possessions to take a 37-34 lead with 16:23 to go.
Tech's last lead came with 8:44 left on Jimmy Carruth's inside shot that made it 45-44.
UNCC outscored Tech 8-3 to take a 52-48 lead with 3:13 left, right before Williams' 3-pointers.
"We were getting out of our sets," Corker said of Tech's offensive execution. "It was tough because they were overplaying the first pass."
Foster rued the rebounding and Tech's 6-of-13 free-throw shooting. Rivers, who passed Perry Young and became Tech's seventh all-time leading rebounder, missed two free throws in the last 4:20; the second was the front end of a one-and-one.
"We were in the game," Foster said. "It's been so long since they lost, they've forgotten how, probably.
"We didn't execute as well late. Our inexperience hurts us some."
Foster's opinion was the opposite of the 49ers' Jeff Mullins, who last year broke Foster's all-time victory record at UNCC. Mullins said the victory was important because it was a league game.
"That was not a pretty win," he said. "We can play better. In the first half, they chased us out of our game a little bit.
"We're newcomers [to the Metro]. Everybody thinks they can beat us."
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