Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993 TAG: 9303200204
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SYRACUSE, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
NO UPSET: UVA WINS 78-66
There was a reason for Virginia coach Jeff Jones delaying the meeting at which his basketball team would discuss first-round NCAA Tournament opponent Manhattan.He didn't want the Cavaliers to miss a minute of Santa Clara's upset victory over Arizona.
"It was a subtle way of letting the players know what can happen in this tournament," Jones said. "As soon as that game ended, we didn't have to say another word about it."
The Cavaliers were determined not to let Manhattan become the Santa Clara of the East, sending the Jaspers home from their first NCAA appearance in 35 years with a 78-66 loss at the Carrier Dome.
"What scared us the most was to see Santa Clara beat Arizona," said UVa forward Junior Burrough, who broke out of a slump by scoring 17 points on 8-for-13 field-goal shooting.
"That definitely made me more focused. I couldn't sleep. [It was] my first NCAA game and all that. Plus, I knew, Manhattan could have beaten us just as well as Santa Clara beat Arizona."
Manhattan, seeded 11th in the East, wasn't quite as big an underdog as 15th-seeded Santa Clara, but the Jaspers had won 17 of 19 games en route to regular-season and tournament championships in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Virginia (20-9) scored the first basket of the day on a Cory Alexander 3-pointer, subsequently extended its lead to 9-3 and did not trail in the game.
It marked the fifth straight season in which UVa has won 20 games or more, but there was little talk of that as the Cavaliers prepared for second-round opponent Massachusetts (24-6).
Third-seeded UMass trailed by eight points in the first half and shot 34.5 percent in holding off Pennsylvania 54-50 in Friday's first game at Syracuse University.
Virginia, which had shot 50 percent once in the previous 14 games, hit 52.7 percent against the Jaspers. It was only the third time in nine games that UVa had scored more than 61 points.
"And we could have scored more," said Jones, admittedly greedy. "We missed, what? Nine free throws? Doug Smith missed four open 3-pointers. We didn't exploit our size advantage as much as we could."
Virginia did the most damage at the position where it had no height advantage: point guard. Alexander had 27 points and seven rebounds, matching career highs in both categories, and he held Manhattan's Chris Williams without a field goal.
Alexander had 10 points in the first 8:42, although he did not come into the game with scoring on his mind.
"It really wasn't what I was looking for," said Alexander, who has scored 20 or more points in the past five games. "I was looking to get Junior established.
"[But] they didn't play me. I'm not sure when I've had that many free shots. I think they figured they'd let one man handle me and didn't help [each other] as much as some teams."
Alexander, Cornel Parker and Jason Williford were 4-of-6 combined on 3-point attempts as UVa took a 38-30 halftime lead.
"We wanted to force them to make perimeter shots and, to their credit, they knocked 'em down," Manhattan coach Fran Fraschilla said. "Cory Alexander is probably the finest player we've played against this year."
Alexander missed back-to-back 3-point attempts that would have given Virginia a 17-point lead midway through the second half, however, and the Jaspers (23-7) would not go away.
After Virginia missed five free throws in a row and seven of nine, Manhattan needed just 48 seconds to cut a 69-56 deficit to 70-63 with 1:26 remaining.
Finally, Smith hit two free throws, Parker converted a three-point play and Smith hit two more free throws to give Jones his first NCAA Tournament victory as a head coach.
"When we got the draw, I'll be truthful with you, I thought we were better off than if we'd gotten Duke or North Carolina [as a first-round opponent]," Fraschilla said. "I can't believe they would have played much better today than Virginia."
The Jaspers shot 38.1 percent but used 16 offensive rebounds for numerous second-shot opportunities. They also converted 11 of 12 free throws.
Junior guard Brenton Birmingham had a game-high 16 points for Manhattan, which was hoping for a repeat of its previous NCAA trip, when it upset No. 1-ranked West Virginia in the first round.
"I'm sure a lot of people looked at the selections and said, `That's an easy one for Virginia,' " UVa senior Ted Jeffries said. "But for those of us on the inside, we knew better." \
see microfilm for box score