Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
WAKE REPELS CAVS
The erosion of Virginia's home-court advantage continued Wednesday night against a Wake Forest basketball team that had won once in its previous 15 trips to University Hall.The Deacons built a 14-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining and held on for a 75-73 victory, the second home loss for the Cavaliers in five days.
It was the fourth straight victory, three on the road, for unranked Wake Forest (12-3 overall, 4-3 ACC). UVa (12-3, 4-3) has lost three conference games and beaten William and Mary in overtime in an eight-day period.
"This one leaves an awful empty feeling," UVa coach Jeff Jones said. "You can't hope to play the way we did for 30 minutes and then give a great effort for 10. The story of the game wasn't at the end."
The 15th-ranked Cavaliers looked lifeless from the introductions, when they were greeted by some 3,000 empty seats, many in the student section. The coliseum eventually filled, but the tone was set.
"I never like to knock the crowd because we've got a lot of people who support us," UVa guard Cory Alexander said, "but it's [the atmosphere] not the same as a lot of places we travel in the ACC."
Wake Forest jumped to a 14-6 lead despite the absence of All-ACC forward Rodney Rogers, who went to the bench after picking up his second foul on a charge with 17:11 to go before halftime.
The Deacons extended a 39-35 halftime lead to 61-47 before Virginia began its comeback, starting with a three-point play by Ted Jeffries with 9:28 remaining.
The Cavaliers were back in the game in no time, closing to 64-63 on a 3-pointer by Cornel Parker, who finished with a team-high 19 points, with 4:30 remaining.
It was the first of four occasions on which UVa would close the gap to one point. The Cavaliers had three shots to tie or take the lead, the last on a missed 3-pointer by Alexander with 1:30 left and Wake Forest leading 68-67.
A free throw by Randolph Childress made it 69-67. Then UVa's Doug Smith took a running, left-handed hook from the left side of the lane that was his only two-point shot of the night.
"I just got itchy," said Smith, who was 6-of-10 on 3-pointers. "I guess I thought I could get a [foul] call."
UVa's other senior, Jeffries, subsequently exercised questionable judgment when he fouled Childress, who heaved the ball at the basket from beyond the 3-point arc.
It was the fifth foul for Jeffries, who held his head in his hands and did not watch as Childress made three free throws to put the Deacons ahead 72-67 with 33 seconds left.
"We were trying to get our players' attention to foul as soon as Wake crossed midcourt," Jones said. "But we didn't want to foul Childress, we didn't want Ted to foul and we didn't want it to be on a 3-pointer."
A 3-pointer by Alexander made it 73-70 with 15 seconds left. Another 3-pointer, by Smith, cut it to 74-73 with four seconds on the clock.
A free throw by Rogers provided the final margin, but the Deacons had one final scare, when Rogers collided with Parker on a long pass into the UVa frontcourt in the closing seconds.
"Yeah, I fouled him," Rogers said matter-of-factly. "I pushed him in the back. I wasn't going to let him turn and shoot it in my face. I knew the officials weren't going to call it."
Karl Hess, the least experienced member of a crew that included Duke Edsall and Bob Donato, waved his hands in a crossing motion to indicate no foul and ran off the court.
"I'm sure the refs were scared to make the call," Parker said. "It was a shove from the back. He helped me up afterwards, so I know he knew he did it."
Keywords:
BASKETBALL