Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Anybody else would have said simply that there were a lot of fouls, and left it at that.
The Indians didn't let 51 whistle toots distract them and won 76-61.
Blacksburg (18-5) takes its act on the road to Richlands on Thursday night as the tournament continues. Marion (20-5) is eliminated.
By the time it was over Tuesday, four players had been dismissed - three from Marion - and four more were staggering with four fouls.
One of those with four was Blacksburg point guard Darren Morton, who shredded the Scarlet Hurricane defense at every opportunity to find the open man. When he didn't find a friendly face, he usually shot, earning him 18 points to go with six assists.
Marion stayed close through the first half but fell victim to an Indians blitz at the start of the third quarter and never recovered.
Kevin Schug scored 10 of his 21 points in the first five minutes of the third as Blacksburg surged to a 44-32 lead.
The Indians led by 20 before it was over.
"They [officials] just had to blow on those whistles tonight," Blacksburg forward Chris Smith said. "But it was still a good game."
Eric Hungate, who scored a game-high 25 for Marion, kept his team from being crushed more severely. Not many of his teammates had much luck offensively. Eddie Boothe, the Hurricane's 6-foot-6 center, had a difficult night and was held to 11 points, only two in the form of a field goal.
"Kevin [Schug] was on Boothe early and he kept him from getting going," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "A player like that who can dominate inside, if you let him get going, then he'll really cause you problems because they'll keep going to him."
Boothe's Blacksburg counterpart, Jon Maher, finished with 19 before fouling out with more than four minutes to go. Maher added seven rebounds.
Defense dominated the first half. The Scarlet Hurricane was so stingy in the first quarter that Blacksburg struggled to make 20 percent of its shots (2-of-10), yet still was down only 10-7.
Marion hadn't been much better, chugging along at a 4-of-11 clip.
But the Indians opened some space to start the second. Morton scored six points in the first 5:07 and Schug added a three-point play in a 12-3 run. The Indians added to it on another three-point play, this one by Maher with 4:25 left, to go up 22-13.
"I'd say both teams were going at it pretty hard," Trear said. "It probably wasn't either our best game or theirs. But both both teams hit the boards and went at it, arms and legs flailing."
by CNB