Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 1, 1993 TAG: 9302010038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
KEYDETS SLIDE FURTHER
There was nothing super about VMI's Sunday.East Tennessee State visited Cameron Hall and series meeting XXXIII had a familiar result. For the 27th time overall and the seventh straight, the Buccaneers handled the Keydets.
ETSU finished the first half with a 23-3 run and raced to a 96-70 rout of VMI in Southern Conference basketball.
The Bucs shook off a mini-slump and extended VMI's not-so-mini-slump. The Keydets have lost six straight, all league games.
VMI was outrebounded 51-29 and the Keydets scored only one field goal and three points in the final seven minutes, 42 seconds of the first half. But the Keydets' woes had everything to do with an athletic and inspired ETSU team.
"We're going through a streak of bad luck right now," Keydets center Lewis Preston said. "But with respect to this game, ETSU just beat us at everything."
After four conference wins to open the season, the Bucs had lost two straight heading to Lexington. Third-year coach Alan LeForce said his team was at a crossroads.
"This was a crucial game and I told the kids that for the first time this season," LeForce said. "This was the most important game since I've been coaching here. Our confidence was going right out the window and we needed to prove we could play basketball."
The Bucs (11-6 overall, 7-3 SC) proved it late in the first half. After eight ties, ETSU changed the game's complexion with a crucial run that turned a 23-19 deficit into a 40-26 halftime lead.
Darell Jones, who finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds, had nine points during that span. Former Laurel Park High School and Hagerstown Junior College player Jason Niblett added seven of his 18 in the run.
"They killed us on the glass and obviously, that big run in the first half just destroyed us," VMI coach Joe Cantafio said. "We went five or six minutes without scoring and, against a team like that, we've got to run our offense and take better shots."
Jonathan Penn scored a season-high 28 points for VMI (5-12, 3-8). Preston, playing with a pulled groin, a sprained ankle and the flu, added 18 points with eight rebounds.
In the second half, VMI pared ETSU's 19-point lead to 62-51 on a 3-pointer by Bryan Woolsey at 13:10. A minute earlier, the Keydets made six free throws (four by Preston) in 17 seconds with the help of a technical foul on Trazel Silvers.
The Bucs answered with a 20-5 run that put them on top 82-55 with 6:35 left. Eric Palmer, 5 feet 6, scored 12 in the run and had 17 of his 22 in the second half.
The 26-point margin equaled VMI's worst loss of the season. The Keydets, who haven't beaten ETSU in three years, lost 78-52 at Georgia Tech on Jan. 2.
\ see microfilm for box score