Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992 TAG: 9202110231
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES CONTINUE TO SLIDE
About 9:15 Monday night, Virginia Tech's basketball team experienced the purest state of shock.The Hokies, who led throughout the second half, lost 54-53 to George Mason on Donald Ross' 3-point shot with 16 seconds left and Tech's turnover while trying for the last shot.
"I felt we had it won," Tech guard Steve Hall said. "I didn't think it was in doubt. Maybe that was a problem."
The Hokies - who had three timeouts left - rushed downcourt after Ross scored. Hall got the ball, was trapped near the free throw lane and threw back to Don Corker but the pass was high. Jamel Perkins grabbed the loose ball and dribbled out the clock.
Hall was asked if the Hokies had any timeouts left on the last trip downcourt.
"I found out later we did," he said. "We didn't know at the time."
After reading that, Tech coach Bill Foster won't be smiling.
"I told them, `Anytime we're in a squeeze, get a TO,' " said Foster, who admitted he was not signaling for a timeout from the sideline. "I expected them to call a timeout. I guess I should've been jumping up and down and screaming. That's my fault.
"That was typical of the whole game . . . We got completely outhustled, start to finish. If we play that way, we've won our last one."
Tech lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell to 7-12. Mason broke a four-game losing streak and is 7-14.
The Hokies led 51-44 with 4:21 left but scored just one basket the rest of the way. They played without Erik Wilson, who had fouled out.
Tech's only score in that stretch was a huge one-handed dunk by John Rivers. With the score 53-46 Tech and 2:30 left, Ross picked up a loose ball as far in the right corner as a player can get - and hit a standing-still 3-pointer to make it 53-49 Tech with 2:15 left.
"That was a legitimate shot," said the 6-foot-1 freshman.
Beside the point, Foster said.
"That should've been our loose ball," he said. "Our kids didn't have enough respect for George Mason."
The teams traded misses before Perkins stripped Jay Purcell and forced a tie-up at midcourt. The ball went to GMU, and Perkins blew past Purcell for a layup to make it 53-51 with 1:16 left.
Next, Thomas Elliott forced a jump shot in the paint that was blocked by seven-footer Craig Hodges, and Corker missed a hurried follow shot with about 35 seconds left.
Mason trotted down and called play No. 5, calling for Ross to pop out from a double screen at the top of the key.
"That's my play," said Ross, who starts and averages 9.3 points per game. "I run it every day in practice. That's the play I was hoping he was going to call."
Ross said he lost Corker on the double screen; Ross swished the open 21-footer.
"Donald Ross' presence on the court is incredible for a freshman," Patriots' coach Ernie Nestor said. "Our feet have been in quicksand, and we got a little bit of umph! tonight."
It looked as though Tech was the team bound for a lift on Monday. A 17-3 run beginning with just under 13 minutes left in the first half gave the Hokies a 23-12 lead, and Tech held on to lead 29-28 at the break.
Tech led 25-14 before Mason scored 14 of the last 18 points of the half to pull close. Tech benefited from Hall's four-point play, in which he made a 3-pointer and a free throw after being fouled.
But Foster said the Hokies never were in control.
"When we were up in the first half, we still weren't playing real well," he said. "We had a chance to put them away if we'd have been sharp, crisp."
It didn't help that the Hokies missed seven of their 12 free throws, making them 12-for-28 in their past three games. Tech's Elliott left the game with a turned ankle with the Hokies ahead 25-16 and 5:09 left in the half. That left the Hokies with one significant substitute - Jimmy Carruth. Swingman Corey Jackson didn't play in the first half after spraining an ankle in practice Saturday.
It didn't matter.
"We played without any emotion or anything," Purcell said. "They wanted it more than we did. We'd lost three in a row. It seems like we would've been hungry for a win." The Hokies, who beat George Mason 76-64 in December at Cassell Coliseum, are winless in 11 games outside Blacksburg. It was the Hokies' first-ever trip to the Patriot Center, where 3,403 showed up to watch.
In the first half, Rivers got four rebounds - moving him past Dale Solomon for fourth place on Tech's all-time list. Rivers has 863 rebounds; Solomon had 856 from 1978-82.
But nothing mattered to Foster afterward. He snapped shut his postgame news conference by cutting short an answer and saying:
"Peace. See you . . . I guess." \
see microfilm for box score