Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
49ERS SLIP PAST HOKIES
A Bill Foster one-liner for Virginia Tech's offense Thursday night against UNC Charlotte:"Sporadically, some guys would score," he said.
Then they stopped doing even that, and the Hokies lost their third straight game 65-56 to the 49ers before a season-high crowd of 5,613 at Cassell Coliseum.
Shawn Good's jumper with 7:05 left pulled the Hokies to 51-50. Tech scored two points over the next 6 1/2 minutes while UNCC got five points from Bershuan Thompson and built a 60-52 lead. The 49ers ended the game on a 14-6 run.
Tech is 4-4 overall and 0-3 in the Metro. UNCC, picked in some preseason Top 25 polls, is 6-6 and 1-1.
Tech lost its first home game this year in five tries. UNCC is 4-3 on the road.
It was the first of three consecutive road games for UNCC, which played without forward Jarvis Lang (13.1 points per game, seven rebounds). Lang, who missed all but two games last season with a broken wrist, sprained his right thumb in practice Wednesday night.
In the last few minutes, UNCC put 7-foot center Rodney Odom on Tech's 6-6 Shawn Smith, who had his second straight double-double off the bench. Smith's only basket as Tech fell further behind came in transition.
The 49ers and Tech have the Metro's two best statistical defenses. UNCC pushed Tech's offense away from the basket and allowed Tech one offensive rebound in the stretch - that coming on a ball knocked out of bounds.
"This is the best rebounding team I've ever had, and it's one of the best defensive teams I've had," said UNCC coach Jeff Mullins, in his eighth year at the school.
Tech's meager inside game (except Smith) wilted. The Hokies were outrebounded 45-33, and frontcourt starters Thomas Elliott and Jimmy Carruth were a combined 4-for-20 on field-goal attempts. Elliott, still uncomfortable as a post player, scored Tech's first six points, then scored once more, with 11:04 left in the second half.
"We don't respond well to physical play," Foster said.
UNCC crowded the perimeter and guarded Tech's inside people one-on-one. Late in the game, Tech got flustered.
"We may have taken a couple of quick shots we really didn't want to take," Elliott said. "We didn't make them play defense."
Nevertheless, Tech trailed just 54-52 when Don Corker hit Smith for a transition layup with 4:06 left. But UNCC's Thompson hit an open 3-pointer - after Jay Purcell fell down trying to harass Cedric Broadhurst on the perimeter - to give the 49ers a 57-52 lead.
It's the kind of shot UNCC has found unreliable this year.
"It's just a matter of situations," Thompson said. "We've been doing some work [on protecting leads] with six minutes left."
Corker missed a jumper in the lane, and Thompson countered with two free throws with 3:03 left. Tech's next three possessions resulted in a UNCC steal from Smith, Odom's block of an Elliott turnaround and Purcell's errant pass stolen by the 49ers.
Tech never got closer than six points.
Foster said he was pleased with Tech's defense - the poor-shooting 49ers were held to 38.6 percent - but UNCC used Odom to set up its offense in the second half. Mullins hollered at his guards to feed Odom low.
"In the first half we couldn't do it because of the crowd noise, we couldn't get our point guard's attention," Mullins said. "In the second half we were able to do it because we were right in front of our own bench."
Odom finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double this year, and he praised the crowd for being into the game.
Foster, meanwhile, tinkered with his substitution patterns, this time holding out former sixth-man Corey Jackson until 7:11 remained in the first half. The reason? Foster wanted rebounding. And, defensive specialist Don Corker - no offensive threat - was in the game when Tech fell behind late.
"He was doing some good things, too," Foster said. "You never know."
Foster's hunt for offense continues Saturday when South Florida arrives in Blacksburg for a Metro Conference game. The Hokies shot 28 percent in the second half Thursday, 35.5 percent for the game - the fourth time this year they've failed to hit 40.
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