Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190118
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES CAN'T SHAKE COLD
Scoring, for Virginia Tech, has become as hard as picking a strand of hair off a wet bar of soap.Missed jumpers. Missed fast-break layups. Missed tip-ins. Missed free throws.
The Hokies ooze all of the above, and Thursday night it allowed them to make East Carolina's highlights film as the Pirates, winners of two of their previous eight games, whipped Tech 66-49 in a non-conference men's basketball game before an estimated 3,200 at Minges Coliseum.
The Hokies shot 31 percent in the first half and finished with 50 or fewer points for the third time in four games, all losses. They have shot better than 35 percent once in their past five games.
Two days off and two days of practice - the first such break in many weeks for Tech - didn't help matters. Tech played well for much of the first half before fading.
"We had some good cracks," Tech coach Bill Foster said of his team's offense.
Tech, which plays a Metro Conference game at Virginia Commonwealth on Monday, is 9-12 overall. East Carolina is 9-14, including 7-4 at home.
Tech's defense, once its mainstay, has lost its hex over opponents. East Carolina, normally as poor-shooting as Tech, made 56.8 percent of its shots.
The Hokies played without forward Thomas Elliott and center Jimmy Carruth, who were serving a one-game suspension for breaking curfew on a road trip to Tampa, Fla. Elliott had nine rebounds and Carruth five blocked shots in Tech's victory over ECU earlier this year. Their absence meant Travis Jackson and Corey Jackson played more minutes than normal.
"We're just not a very good team right now," Foster said.
The Hokies led 18-14 with 7:20 left in the first half but were outscored 30-6 over the next 12:20 as ECU took a 20-point lead with about five minutes gone in the second half.
The Hokies never recovered - although, ironically, they set a team record when seven players each making a 3-pointer in the game.
It was the fourth time these teams have played in the past two years, and each has won twice at home. Tech leads the series 11-3 but is 1-3 in Greenville.
The Hokies are 0-5 on the road this year.
Bill Foster started four freshmen - Jim Jackson, Travis Jackson, Shawn Smith and Damon Watlington - the first time that's happened on a Tech team since 1957-58. That year, coach Chuck Noe at times started rookies Chris Smith, Bob Ayersman, Earl Gilbert and Dean Blake.
"It would've helped to have had [Elliott and Carruth]," he said. "I hope it's the last time [four freshmen start] for the next 40 years."
East Carolina broke an 18-18 tie with 6:20 left and outscored Tech 14-3 to lead 32-21 at halftime.
Lester Lyons led ECU with 13 points, and the Pirates made 56.5 percent of their field-goal attempts. \
see microfilm for box score