Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992 TAG: 9201190115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: HATTIESBURG, MISS. LENGTH: Medium
GOLDEN EAGLES STIFLE TECH 72-60
Virginia Tech saw a variety of Southern Mississippi defenses on Saturday.The Hokies didn't like any of them.
Tech missed two-thirds of its field-goal attempts en route to a 72-60 Metro Conference basketball loss before a crowd of 6,022 at Reed Green Coliseum.
The Hokies led once, by one point, in the first half. They trailed by seven at halftime and by 17 in the second half.
The Golden Eagles (6-7 overall, 1-0 in the league) switched between man-to-man and different zones for most of the game. The skittish Hokies (6-8, 1-3) shot 29.4 percent from the field in the second half.
"Every time they changed, we got in a hurry," Tech coach Bill Foster said.
Even so, Tech cut Southern Miss' 17-point lead to eight late in the game, which prompted Foster to feel better about Tech's development.
Golden Eagles coach M.K. Turk's team played its first game in 11 days, an unusually long mid-season break. Before the game he said the Golden Eagles finally had time to correct often-made errors.
"We did it [against Tech in particular] to see how effectively we could do it," Turk said. "We didn't want to confuse ourselves more than confuse the opponent."
Foster, too, had a defensive surprise ready. He said he thought Southern Miss, after spending much of the 11 days off watching films of Tech playing its usual man-to-man, might be thrown by a Tech zone.
It didn't happen. The Golden Eagles made four of their first six field-goal attempts, including all three 3-point attempts, and led 11-2 before Foster called a timeout and switched the Hokies out of the zone with 16:56 left.
"They just came out and smiled and hit threes," Foster said. "They started three big men in the lineup, and we figured we just had to cover two guys. We didn't cover well in the zone.
"It was a three-to-four possession deal, and they scored on every possession."
Tech came back, though, and led 18-17 on Thomas Elliott's 3-pointer with 8:56 left in the half. Then Southern Miss' Dallas Dale hit a 3-pointer to put his team ahead for good.
Dale hadn't had more than one 3-pointer in his past six games, but he had three by halftime Saturday as Southern Miss shot 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. That was the best any team has shot in a half against Tech this year.
Tech, meanwhile, struggled. Southern Miss outscored the Hokies 10-5 to end the first half, and a 12-2 run in the first 8 1/2 minutes of the second half put Southern Miss up 51-34.
Tech made one of 11 field-goal attempts in that stretch.
"The thing that would cure all of it is a couple of nights where you shot 50 or 55 percent," Foster said. "The one [constant] for us has been defense. We've got to shoot it better."
The Hokies got production from Corey Jackson, who had a career-high 18 points; Elliott, who finished with 17 after scoring three in the past two games; and Jimmy Carruth, who had 11. Jackson had 12 in the second half, all on 3-pointers.
"I got in a rhythm," Jackson said.
Missing offensively were point guard Jay Purcell, who was 1-for-8 from the field, and forward John Rivers, who spent most of his energy guarding Southern Miss' Clarence Weatherspoon.
Rivers usually guards the opponents' best forward and has scored 10, 10 and eight points in his past three games.
"I don't think it bothers me at all," he said when asked if defense was sapping his offense. "It's just telling me I've got to work harder. Every shot [today] there seemed to be a lid on the rim."
After the game, Foster briefly fumed about the officiating. Two calls in particular riled him. Once, Elliott was smacked in the face, went down and had the ball stolen; the officials called a timeout but no foul and gave the ball to Southern Miss. Another time, Elliott drove for a dunk but hit the deck as a Golden Eagle knocked the ball away.
As he walked off the court after the game, Foster stopped and criticized a referee to Metro supervisor of officials Dale Kelley.
"Don't get me started on that," Foster said bitterly when asked by a reporter about the officiating. "We pay the highest fees in America, we pay them more than anybody. I do this [coaching] for a living; they do it [officiating] as a hobby."
Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen said the league pays its officials $450 per game, as much as any conference, with the possible exception of the Big East.
Last year, Tech players often griped about the officiating, but at least one Hokie thought nothing of it Saturday.
"We really didn't have an excuse for losing this game," Rivers said. "The refereeing was good. We should have been a little more patient [offensively]."
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