Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302080250
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
VCU SHORT-CIRCUITS HOKIES
Any Virginia Tech fans fleeing Cassell Coliseum as Virginia Commonwealth was tanning the Hokies midway through the second half Saturday may have heard the following:"Hey! Wait! Tech's coming back!"
Pause.
"Naaah, never mind."
The Hokies had about a six-minute rally, too short to stop VCU from stomping them 73-54 in a Metro Conference basketball game before 5,046 spectators.
Tech trailed 51-33 with 10:33 left before a 16-4 run - sparked by Damon Watlington's eight points - made it 55-49 with 4:20 left. A Kendrick Warren jumper and a Tyron McCoy 3-pointer sent Tech fans looking for their car keys.
"They don't bag it," Tech coach Bill Foster said of his players. "But it's a game that hurts. You don't like losing at home."
Especially this badly.
VCU became the first state team to win twice at Cassell and did it with the biggest winning margin of any Virginia team in Tech's castle. The Rams became the first Metro team other than Louisville (twice) to hammer the Hokies by as many as 19 points in Blacksburg.
The Rams (12-6 overall, 3-3 Metro) made 55.8 percent (29-of-52) of their field goals, the best mark against Tech (8-9, 1-6) since Florida State shot 65.4 percent in the semifinals of the Metro Tournament two years ago in Roanoke.
VCU's balance shredded Tech's formerly frugal defense. Six-foot-9 center Eugene Kissourine made three first-half 3-pointers, bollixing Tech's defensive plans.
"It makes it tough to help on Kendrick Warren," Foster said. "It also forces us into going with one-on-one matchups with Warren. When it got to crunch time with six minutes to go, we can't give up the [3-pointers], so he isolated one-on-one and really went to work."
Tech's drowsy play and VCU's sharp passing - 22 assists - helped the Rams lead by 12 at halftime despite several unforced turnovers. A 10-5 run to start the second half gave the Rams a 44-27 lead that grew as large as 18 before Tech climbed out of its coffin.
Watlington made two free throws and Brower airballed a 3-pointer. Travis Jackson's 10-foot turnaround was matched by Warren's dunk, but Watlington stole the ball and hit a 3-pointer. Sherron Mills missed, and Watlington sank another 3-pointer to make it 53-43, VCU, with 7:30 left.
Three VCU misses were followed by Shawn Smith's spinning layup inside. Tyron McCoy blew an open 15-footer for VCU and Shawn Good tipped in Smith's miss as Tech cut it to 53-47.
Then came Warren, spinning on the baseline against Smith, who had four fouls, to give VCU an eight-point lead. Travis Jackson scored again, but Warren hit a middle-of-the-lane 12-foot turnaround over Smith.
After a Jay Purcell miss, McCoy swished a left-corner 3-pointer and Tech's time was over.
It was the first time in the past four VCU-Tech games the margin has been more than three points.
"This is my first win here," said Warren, a junior who spent Friday battling a queasy stomach. "This is the best we've ever played here."
Rams coach Sonny Smith went one further: It's the best VCU has played this year - including the Rams' 34-point blowout of then-25th-ranked Long Beach State on Jan.23, which Smith called a "street game."
"We owned the highway, so to speak," he said. "This was not a street game [today]. It was more like a college basketball game than a pro game."
For the first 30 minutes, Tech was a college basketball wanna-be. The Hokies missed 23 of their 31 first-half shots, and VCU was scoring inside and out.
"[Our offense] doesn't flow sometimes," Jim Jackson said. "[Defensively] we're mainly concentrating on playing to the 3-point line and in. They had 3-point shooters and inside players. It's tough."
Before the Tulane game Thursday, Tech hadn't allowed an opponent to make close to half its field-goal attempts this year. Now, it has been done back-to-back. Foster says poor offense can sicken defensive effort, but he says the security lapse may have been inevitable.
"Your defense can't carry you forever. Catch-up time's kind of come," he said. "It's February, everyone's in rhythm, shooting the ball good. And we aren't." \
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