VMI FINISHES WITH 16TH STRAIGHT LOSS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050128
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ASHEVILLE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium
VMI FINISHES WITH 16TH STRAIGHT LOSS
Furman, a jittery team at first, regained its composure and ended VMI's season of despair Thursday night.
The Paladins' inside game, depth and experience were too much for VMI as Furman opened the Southern Conference basketball tournament with a 76-51 victory.
Furman (11-16), which has beaten VMI five times in a row and nine out of the past 11, will face top-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga (23-6) at noon today in the opening quarterfinal game.
All-conference forward Derek Waugh scored 11 of his 17 points in the opening half to lead eighth-seeded Furman. Brian Edwards and Bill Harder added 13 each.
"It would have been a bad feeling to lose this game, so I guess there was a little bit of pressure on us," said Waugh, who added a game-high nine rebounds. "Now that we have this one out of the way we can relax more.
" . . . Every player has certain fears and hopes for a game. It was kind of a pressure game for us, but we loosened up in the second half."
The ninth-seeded Keydets (5-22) lost their last 16 games. VMI, which owns the nation's second-longest losing streak, last won on Jan. 16 against The Citadel.
"It has been one of those nightmare years," VMI coach Joe Cantafio said. "We didn't play well the entire year. A lot of bad things happened."
Furman used two runs in the second half to extend an eight-point halftime lead to 27 points.
Jonathan Penn led the Keydets with 21 points, and Lewis Preston added 17 and tied the tournament record with six blocked shots.
VMI, the worst shooting team in the league, shot 32.1 percent.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB