Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301100125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
CAVALIERS' ROAD SHOW STILL A WINNER
The game was barely under way Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum when Virginia's basketball players experienced a strange sensation.The crowd was cheering for the other team.
The Cavaliers took their act on the road for the first time in 39 days and were relieved to escape with a deceiving 73-56 ACC victory over North Carolina State.
Sophomore guard Cory Alexander had a career-high 25 points, 20 in the final 15:03, as 25th-ranked UVa (9-0) joined Duke and Kentucky as one of the three unbeaten teams in NCAA Division I.
The Cavaliers trailed in the second half for the third time in as many games but outscored the Wolfpack 32-13 over the final 12 minutes in extending their winning streak to 14 games over two seasons.
"What it came down to was, the team with the second-longest winning streak in the country knew how to win better than we did," said N.C. State coach Les Robinson.
It would be bad enough if N.C. State (3-5) were only losing games, but the Wolfpack keeps losing players. After would-be starting forward Bryant Feggins was shot last spring, reserve center Anthony Robinson committed suicide before the season.
It was announced this week that Feggins would not play this season; then, before the Wolfpack was to play Thursday night, starters Donnie Seale and Chuck Kornegay were declared academically ineligible.
N.C. State had nine players in uniform Saturday night but led 29-27 at halftime and was on top, 43-31, as late as the 12:22 mark after the second of consecutive Marcus Wilson 3-pointers.
"I'm sure their guys, after seeing our game Thursday night, weren't expecting much of a fight," said Robinson, referring to the Wolfpack's 100-67 loss to visiting North Carolina.
Virginia scored 10 straight points as part of a 17-4 run to make it 58-47 with 5:35 left, but N.C. State whittled the deficit to 58-52 after Mark Davis' two free throws with 2:40 left.
The Cavaliers played near-flawless basketball from that point, scoring on their last seven possessions, starting with two free throws by Doug Smith.
Alexander had missed a jump shot as the 45-second clock was running down, but Junior Burrough tipped the rebound outside to Smith. The Cavaliers were to make nine straight free throws over the final 1:50 and 20 of 21 for the game.
"Honestly, we haven't spent any more time working on them," said UVa coach Jeff Jones, whose team went 15-of-25 on free throws Wednesday night in an 80-76 victory over Florida State.
Alexander, shooting 58.3 percent from the line before Saturday, went 9-for-9 on free throws and scored 11 points in the final 1:41. He and Burrough, who finished with 19 points, had 33 of UVa's 46 points in the second half.
"Not only did he score 11 points in the last couple of minutes," Burrough said, "but he controlled the ball and made all of the right decisions. He knows he's our leader."
It was reminiscent of Wednesday night, when Alexander had 18 of his 23 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. He was 3-for-3 on 3-pointers in the second half Saturday night.
"There in the second half, when the game was see-sawing back and forth," Alexander said. "I got the guys together and said, `There's no reason to doubt anything. We're not going to lose this game.' "
The Cavaliers shot only 40.6 percent, but that was significantly better than N.C. State's 29.7 percent, including 24.1 percent in the second half. The Wolfpack was 2-of-20 on 3-point attempts.
"This was probably the poorest 3-point shooting night we've had since I've been here," said Robinson, who is in his third year as the Wolfpack's head coach.
The Cavaliers actually were enthused to be in the game after a first half in which they shot 34.5 percent, committed nine turnovers and had two offensive rebounds.
"We felt we were in control because we were only two down and we had been playing like garbage, basically," Burrough said. "I was worried how we would get back up after beating Florida State."
Moreover, it was UVa's first road game since it opened the season Dec. 1 against Pennsylvania at the Palestra in Philadelphia. That was followed by seven straight home wins, many of them lopsided.
"I like our blue [road] uniforms 'cause we've got bigger shorts," Burrough said. "Seriously, we'd gotten spoiled by all these home games; this helps us appreciate University Hall." \
see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.