Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993 TAG: 9303050186
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY. LENGTH: Medium
CARDS SWAMP HOKIES
Louisville can be a dreamy basketball team or just a dreaming one.The 22nd-ranked Cardinals were the latter for much of Thursday night, but Virginia Tech was too swaddled in its own nightmare to do much about it.
Louisville lashed the Hokies 82-61 before 19,273 spectators in Freedom Hall despite the absence of starter Troy Smith, who pulled a hamstring warming up, and with leading scorer Dwayne Morton limited to 21 minutes because of foul trouble.
Tech's own foul trouble hurt - center Jimmy Carruth was disqualified, and starters Jay Purcell and Jim Jackson had four each - as did the Hokies' delinquent shooting. Tech missed several point-blank shots in the first half when it had a chance to stay close.
The Metro Conference victory clinched Louisville's 11th regular-season title in the 17-year-old conference. The Cardinals are 17-8 overall and finished 11-1 in the Metro.
Tech (9-16, 1-10) lost its sixth straight. The Hokies will end their regular season Saturday against UNC Charlotte in Davidson, N.C., before returning to Louisville next week for the conference tournament.
"We did about all we could except shoot the ball better," Tech coach Bill Foster said. "They've got a nice team."
Nice enough to shoot 46.4 percent in the first half - Louisville's season average is 50.3 percent - and still lead by 14 at halftime. The Cardinals got 11 more rebounds, six offensive, than Tech and made 13 of 16 free throws.
It was a non-call, however, that riled Foster and gave Louisville a boost. Tech had cut a 27-15 deficit to 30-25, then trailed 32-25 when Purcell's drive was partially blocked and sparked a Louisville break.
Reserve forward Mike Case dribbled to the lane, passed back to James Brewer at the 3-point arc and ran over Tech's Jim Jackson.
Foster wanted a charging call; instead, Brewer made a 3-pointer and the Cardinals led 35-25 with 2:13 left. Foster bellowed at official Rusty Herring and got his first technical foul as Tech's coach and only the third on a Metro coach all year.
Brewer made both free throws, and Greg Minor's follow shot on the ensuing possession gave the Cardinals a 39-25 lead with 1:47 left.
Tech closed to eight points down a couple of times in the second half, but never closer.
"An ill-timed technical certainly made a difference," Foster said. "But it was a rotten call."
Said Louisville coach Denny Crum: "It was a big turnaround for us there."
Despite getting only two field goals from Morton, the Metro's fourth-leading shooter who spent much of the night hounded by Jim Jackson, Louisville overmatched the Hokies.
Minor, a 6-foot-6 guard, had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and reserve center Brian Hopgood made five of six field goals and scored eight of his 11 points in the second half.
"If we had Hopgood, we'd probably be in second place in the league," Foster said.
The Hokies' dilemma: Guard the perimeter, where Louisville shoots a nationally fourth-ranked 42.7 percent from 3-point range, or double-team Clifford Rozier and Hopgood, who were a combined 11-for-17 Thursday.
"It's hard to get any help on Rozier," Foster said.
Especially when 6-9, 235-pound Rozier plays alongside 6-9, 250-pound Hopgood.
"We didn't rotate and help out," Tech's Thomas Elliott said. "Every time we tried to help, we fouled.
"We felt in the first half we got some pretty easy shots when they were pressing us. But once we started getting fouls called against us, they got easy shots from the free-throw line. . . . A good game plan for them [against us] is to put Hopgood and Rozier in. That's how they killed us in the second half."
And that was without 6-8 Smith, who was 10-of-10 from the field last Saturday against Tulane.
Louisville won for the 15th time in its past 17 games against Tech and leads the series 23-8.
"I thought we handled it really well," Crum said of Smith's absence. "I don't think we played a great game, but I thought our effort was good."
Tech was trying to get out of the Metro's basement. Because of South Florida's loss to Southern Mississippi on Thursday night, the Hokies have a chance to tie South Florida for seventh place. If the teams do tie, the tournament seeding - which would mean playing either 20th-ranked Tulane or Virginia Commonwealth - would be determined by a coin flip because none of the league's tie-breakers would separate the teams. \
see microfilm for box score