Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
SHOTS DON'T FALL IN LATEST KEYDETS LOSS
What's VMI stand for? Virginia Military Institute or Virginia Masonry Institute?If you're talking basketball these days, it's most definitely the latter.
On Saturday at Cameron Hall, the Keydets continued to lay bricks and lose, falling 85-69 to Furman in a Southern Conference game.
The loss was VMI's 14th straight, and again the Keydets' main bugaboo was putting the ball in the basket. VMI (5-20 overall, 3-15 conference) shot 37.3 percent, including 28.6 percent in the first half.
"When you shoot 28 percent in the first half, there are not too many games you're going to win," VMI coach Joe Cantafio said, shaking his head. "We're taking pretty good shots, too. We just don't make 'em.
"After a while, it becomes a confidence thing. I've tried it all. We've had hard practices, we've had fun practices.
"We bury those shots in practice. I think what happens is it becomes a mental thing and you press a little bit. How do you get out of it? You just go shoot the ball, it goes in and you start unwinding."
The Keydets came unwound early Saturday and never caught up. The Paladins (10-15, 8-9) scored the first 12 points and never trailed.
After missing their first six shots, the Keydets pulled to 31-29 with 5:08 left in the first half. They then misfired on their final eight shots and went to the dressing room trailing 42-33.
The Keydets, who entered Saturday shooting 41 percent, hit 10 of 35 first-half attempts, including one of 13 from 3-point range.
Things didn't get much better in the second half until the final 10 minutes, until a lineup consisting of four freshmen and a sophomore starting connecting to lift VMI to 50 percent for the final 20 minutes.
"The freshmen were the bright spot," Cantafio said. "I think we'll be better off [for playing them now] in years to come."
Freshmen Lawrence Gullette and Terrell Milam of Roanoke were particularly impressive, finishing with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Furman's 6-foot-10 center Brian Edwards, who had a game-high 24 points, also came up big on the defensive end, helping limit VMI's Lewis Preston to 13 points, four below his average.
Preston, the only player on the VMI roster shooting better than 50 percent for the season, was 4-of-12. The 6-8 senior had two points in the second half, both on free throws.
"Furman did a good job on Preston," Cantafio said. "He only got two shots in the second half."
Furman coach Butch Estes said Edwards' work on VMI's top gun was the difference.
"Edwards held Preston to 13 points, which is much better than 37 [which Preston had last Sunday at The Citadel]," Estes said. "Defensively, it was one of best efforts of the season."
Estes made a point to talk about the VMI youngsters, who outscrapped and outplayed his team down the stretch.
"VMI has some very good freshmen," Estes said. "They're going to be something to deal with in the future."
For now, though, the Keydets somehow will have to find their aim. They haven't shot better than 50 percent in a game since Jan. 16, which, coincidentally, was the last time they won.
"It's got to get better," Cantafio said. "We can't shoot any worse."
VMI winds up the regular season today at 3 p.m., when Davidson visits Cameron. Preston and fellow seniors Jonathan Penn and Juan Banks, who had a team-high 18 points Saturday, will be playing their final home games. \
see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.