Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 7, 1993 TAG: 9303070040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
MANNS NOT ENOUGH FOR GEORGE MASON
DESPITE A career-high 24 points by George Mason freshman guard Troy Manns of Roanoke, top-seeded James Madison overcame its lowest-scoring half of the season and rallied for a 60-49 victory.\ It was the first game of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, but Troy Manns knew he'd played this one before.Top-seeded James Madison came from behind in the second half Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum, avoiding George Mason's upset bid 60-49.
"It's a frustrating end to a frustrating season," said Manns, the freshman point guard from Roanoke who was virtually a one-man offense for the Patriots (7-21).
Manns not only ran Mason's patient, four-corners attack, but also scored a career-high 24 points. It wasn't enough for a club that shot 39 percent against the Dukes (20-7), who played the first half tighter than coach Lefty Driesell's necktie.
The first 20 minutes, with Mason in a spread zone, were reminiscent of JMU's tournament loss to last-place Navy on the same floor two years ago.
"We had flashbacks of that Navy game," said Dukes center Clayton Ritter.
After JMU had advanced, Patriots coach Ernie Nestor may have finished his CAA days by going after the officials.
"It was a very good game until the officials too over," Nestor said, referring to a technical foul called on Derek Shackelford when Mason led 31-30 with 11:49 to play.
"[Jeff] Chambers elbows a kid in the head and the kid pushes him back and gets stuck with a technical. It was an unbelievably awful call. It was a monstrously pivotal, momentum-turning call.
"We got eighth-place officiating today, is what you call it."
Nestor, after back to-back 7-21 seasons with a program that reached the NCAA Tournament in 1989, is expected to be fired this week. If so, the former Bassett High coach is leaving the Patriots some decent young players, most notably Manns.
"I'd take a win over a good individual game any day," said Manns, who was the playmaker for Group AAA state champion Patrick Henry High School last season. "We just kept losing, and I'm not used to that.
"Last year, I only played in one loss. This year, I met a lot of my personal goals and expectations, but the team didn't come close."
Manns, who averaged 11.3 points and ranked second in the CAA in assists with 4.5 per game, was a better playmaker than his statistics showed, Nestor said.
"Troy has special ability," the GMU coach said. "He's going to be very good. What did he have, about 125 assists? That's on a team that shot 40 percent.
"In practice, he delivers the ball to people in scoring position so much, his stats go off the board. But when a team can't score, it kills the point guard.
"Here's a kid who only averaged 11 points a game in high school, because he didn't have to score more. He certainly hasn't disappointed us. I think he's going to be very good."
Manns, who didn't have an assist in 40 minutes, watched his teammates go a combined 10-for-32, despite getting good shots against JMU.
The 6-foot-1 guard picked up his scoring in the last month, averaging 16.5 points in Mason's last nine games. Not bad for a player whose only scholarship offers came from Mason, VMI and Division II Hampton.
The statistic that Manns uses as a gauge, however, is George Mason's crash to 17 losses in the last 19 games.
"I don't think I proved that much this season," Manns said. "People know good point guards win. Anybody can score. People don't ask who had the most points. They ask who won."
Manns said he enjoyed running the Patriots' patient attack Saturday. "It's difficult, because you have the ball in your hands so much of the time, but it's fun," he said.
He was so effective that Driesell finally switched 6-5 William Davis to defend Manns.
"We couldn't stop him," Driesell said. "He was tough. We just couldn't stop him."
In that regard, Manns was a loner. \
see microfilm for box score
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