Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 16, 1992 TAG: 9202160159
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
MARSHALL THWARTS KEYDETS
It seemed that for every good thing VMI did, two things went wrong.The Keydets missed some key shots, failed to get some critical rebounds and had little luck down the stretch.
Marshall had no such problems and came away with a 79-72 Southern Conference basketball victory Saturday at Cameron Hall.
"It seemed like that in the last five minutes, everything that could go wrong went wrong," VMI coach Joe Cantafio said. "It was one of those things. The ball just bounced the other way."
VMI (8-14 overall, 2-8 Southern Conference) lost its seventh consecutive Southern Conference game. The Keydets are 0-5 in conference games in Cameron Hall.
Marshall's Tyrone Phillips, who didn't play when the Keydets won at Marshall, scored 23 points and Malik Hightower came off the bench to add 18 as Marshall (5-17, 2-8) won for the second time in 16 games.
In the closing minutes, the Keydets suffered a rash of errors that cost them any opportunity of rallying to victory.
VMI didn't convert after steals and gave up a number of offensive rebounds that allowed Marshall to get second-chance points or run time off the clock.
"Near the end, we had our small team in the game because we wanted to pressure them," said Cantafio. "We made some steals, but then we gave it right back. [Marshall] also had some stickbacks in the last three or four minutes, and that really hurt us."
The Keydets trailed 68-65 with about two minutes left when Percy Covington missed a 3-point attempt after a Marshall turnover.
Phillips then scored a follow-up basket.
After Lewis Preston missed two free throws for VMI, Michael Peck missed the second of two free throws for Marshall, but he rebounded the miss, and that led to two free throws from Harold Simmons that put the Thundering Herd up 73-65 with 1:11 remaining.
Freshman guard Bobby Jones sank a basket and free throw for VMI, then Hightower sealed the victory with two free throws that put Marshall up 77-68 with 41 seconds left.
The Keydets shot 40.6 percent in the second half.
"Defensively, we held them to 42 percent field-goal shooting," said Marshall coach Dwight Freeman. "We got ahead by 10 but let them back in the game. We have to learn to put teams away when we get to that point."
Jonathan Penn led VMI with 22 points, Lewis Preston scored 21 and Jones, making his second straight start, added 17. The rest of the Keydets added 12 points.
"Look at the scoring from our bench," said Cantafio. "Five points. You just can't get it done with that."
Penn, who scored 20 or more for the eighth straight game, had just seven points in the decisive second half. Penn converted a three-point play to pull VMI to 52-45 with 9:45 left, but he didn't get another point until scoring two baskets in the final 15 seconds.
"[Marshall point guard] Frank Martin did a tremendous job guarding Jonathan Penn in the second half," said Freeman. "We knew coming in that Penn and Preston were going to come out and have a great game unless we could contain them."
The game turned with about eight minutes left when, after Preston made two free throws to pull VMI to 53-52, Juan Banks got a steal for VMI.
Banks got the ball to Penn, who missed a 3-point attempt. Brian Woolsey rebounded for the Keydets, but his follow shot was blocked by Luke Gross.
Phillips then scored nine points in an 11-4 Marshall run. \
see microfilm for box score