Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992 TAG: 9202060274
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
UVA ESCAPES TECH 61-57
In a basketball game that offered little else, at least Virginia and Virginia Tech were able to provide a little drama Wednesday night.Bryant Stith finally put an end to the longest game in the history of the series when he scored nine points in the second overtime to lead the Cavaliers to a 61-57 victory at the Roanoke Civic Center.
"I told the players before the game that I wanted them to play hard for 40 minutes," UVa coach Jeff Jones said. "Little did I know that wouldn't be enough."
The Cavaliers had a shot to win in regulation, then sweated out a 25-foot attempt by Tech's Jay Purcell that would have won the game at the end of the first overtime.
It was all UVa in the second overtime as Stith broke a 50-50 tie by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. He finished with a game-high 24 points, 19 after halftime.
"We come to expect that from Bryant," Jones said. "He was feeling the pressure from their big guys on a couple of those threes, so he just moved another step or two farther from the basket."
Stith was 3-of-16 on field-goal attempts before the 3-pointers. He made 10 of 11 free throws, and the Cavaliers were 19-of-21 (90.5 percent) as a team.
Jones didn't disagree that the Cavaliers won the game at the line.
"Sure, you could say that," he said. "Look at [Tech's] free-throw percentage in the first half. They were 1-for-6. That's why we were ahead."
The Cavaliers had their lowest-scoring half of the year but still led 18-15. The Hokies scored two field goals in the last 43 seconds to make it that close.
UVa opened a 26-19 lead in the second half, but Tech stormed back with a 9-0 run and took the lead on a basket by John Rivers, who finished with a team-high 15 points.
Neither team led by more than three points during the remainder of regulation, with Rivers forcing overtime with a jump shot with 33 seconds left - two ticks before the 45-second clock expired.
UVa jumped ahead 46-42 to start the overtime, but Tech scored the next six points, including two go-ahead free throws by Erik Wilson with 56 seconds left.
Stith set the stage for the second overtime when he swished two free throws with 26 seconds remaining. Stith, the ACC free-throw leader, has gone 33-of-39 from the line over the past three games.
The Cavaliers' only other double-figure scorer - and he was an unlikely one - was center Ted Jeffries. Jeffries, averaging 4.3 points, made all five of his field-goal attempts and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in a career-high 50 minutes.
"You look at Ted's offensive stats and wonder, `Why does he play so much?' " Jones said. "But he and Bryant are the two guys we have to have in the game."
It was the first two-overtime affair in the 106-game history of the series and the third overtime game, all won by the Cavaliers. UVa has won 10 of its past 12 overtime games, dating to the 1986-87 season.
"We get into overtime, and we don't think we're going to lose," UVa senior Anthony Oliver said. "They had a shot at the end of the first overtime, but it wasn't all that close."
Few shots in the game were close. The Cavaliers shot a season-low 33.3 percent from the field, with nobody but Jeffries making half of his attempts. Tech shot 40.6 percent.
"Our shooting wasn't a thing of beauty," first-year Tech coach Bill Foster said, "but we missed better shots than some of the ones Virginia made, really."
The Hokies outrebounded UVa 46-36, including a season-high 16 rebounds by Rivers. Tech had a 23-12 rebounding lead in the first half, when it had 10 offensive rebounds.
"I wasn't disappointed so much by the way we played in the first half as I was the way we were outrebounded," Jones said. "We were bothered by their size."
Nonetheless, the Cavaliers (11-8) came away with their third straight victory, the first time all season they have won three games in a row. Tech is 7-11.
UVa was without sophomore Cornel Parker, a starter in the two previous games, who left the team after an 80-69 victory Saturday at North Carolina State.
Seldom-used sophomore Derrick Johnson started in place of Parker, who reportedly will rejoin the team later this week. Jones, who will meet with Parker this morning, said the episode did not serve as a distraction.
A crowd of 8,396 represented the smallest turnout for any of the 10 Tech-UVa games in Roanoke, although brisk walk-up sales pushed the attendance past the expected 7,000 to 7,500.
"I want to keep the game exactly where it is," said Jones, who as a head coach or assistant has witnessed 15 UVa victories in the past 18 meetings. "I have absolutely no desire to take a team into Blacksburg.
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: CORRECTION