Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993 TAG: 9302190163
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES REMAIN IN DEEP FREEZE, LOSE 66-49
Scoring, for Virginia Tech, has become as difficult 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 the troubles allowed them to make East Carolina's highlights film as the Pirates, winners of two of their past 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.
All Tech needs is a little defensive push to visit its offensive black hole. ECU provided it with a plan that boiled down to this: Stay in front of Tech's shooters and let them miss. A month and a half ago in Blacksburg, ECU's hacking defense sent Tech to the free-throw line 38 times.
"We felt if we could make them work every possession and not give them anything easy - also [eliminate] fouling - we'd be in pretty good shape," ECU coach Eddie Payne said.
Tech's defense, once its mainstay, has lost its hex over opponents. East Carolina, normally as poor-shooting as Tech, got a bunch of transition baskets, didn't hurry its offense and didn't miss many open shots. It made 56.8 percent.
"That's like shooting 80 percent," Payne said, smiling.
Tech wouldn't know. Even two days off and two days of practice - the first such break in many weeks - didn't help.
Tech was in the game for much of the first half before fading.
"I was very disappointed with our offensive execution," Tech coach Bill Foster said. "We had some good cracks."
Tech, which plays a Metro Conference game at Virginia Commonwealth on Monday, is 9-12 overall. East Carolina is 9-14overall, including 7-4 at home.
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 and is 1-3 in Greenville.
The Hokies played without forward Thomas Elliott and center Jimmy Carruth, who were serving one-game suspensions 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 season. Their absence meant Travis Jackson and Corey Jackson played more than normal - and got tired.
Foster started four freshmen - Jim Jackson, Travis Jackson, Shawn Smith and Damon Watlington - the first time a Hokies team has done that since 1957-58. That year, coach Chuck Noe at times started rookies Chris Smith, Bob Ayersman, Earl Gilbert and Dean Blake.
"It would have helped to have had [Elliott and Carruth]," he said. "I hope it's the last time [four freshmen start] for the next 40 years."
Nevertheless, the Hokies led 18-14 with 7:20 left in the first half, but they were outscored 33-7 over the next 14 minutes as ECU took a 22-point lead with about seven minutes gone in the second half.
The Hokies never recovered - although, ironically, they set a team record with seven players each making a 3-pointer in the game.
The Hokies are 0-5 on the road this year; four of their final five regular-season games are away from home.
"We're just not a very good team right now," Foster said. "We'll just roll 'em up and go again."
East Carolina rolled the Hokies with a 18-3 run to end the first half, giving the Pirates a 32-21 halftime lead. ECU opened the second half with a 15-4 run that settled matters. \
see microfilm for box score