Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
10TH WIN ELUSIVE ONCE MORE
Virginia Tech spent much of the second half Saturday whittling away Southern Mississippi's huge lead, then had its knife swiped by the Golden Eagles' Bernard Haslett.Tech, trailing by 19 points with 15:24 left, pulled to two down nine minutes later. Then Haslett speared Tech with back-to-back 3-pointers as Southern Miss won the Metro Conference basketball game 83-79 before 5,482 spectators at Cassell Coliseum, the fourth-largest crowd this year.
Tech (9-15 overall, 1-9 Metro Conference) failed for the fifth straight game to match last year's win total. The Hokies, who complete their Metro schedule at Louisville and against UNC Charlotte in Davidson, N.C., have never finished with just one league victory.
The Hokies' 22-5 second-half streak revved the fans but didn't get rid of the Golden Eagles (8-15, 4-6). Haslett's two shots from the left wing, sandwiched around a Jimmy Carruth miss, gave Southern Miss a 68-60 lead, and the Golden Eagles went on to lead by 12.
Haslett, a 6-foot-3 junior, has made more 3-pointers (83) than anyone in the Metro.
"I'm not shy at all," he said. "Somebody had to step up, and I decided to."
Tech pulled to six down with 1:01 left, but Southern Miss' Herman Myers got a dunk after Tech's press was sucked into the backcourt trying to foul, and the Golden Eagles were safe.
"The first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes, we played all right," Tech's Jay Purcell said.
But for a 12:18 stretch in between, Southern Miss outscored Tech 51-23. Three-pointers and offensive rebounds were Southern Miss' weapons; the Golden Eagles missed 37 field-goal attempts but rebounded 19.
Myers, a 6-7 junior, had 16 rebounds (five offensive) and 11 points. He took over inside after Southern Miss coach M.K. Turk sat down forward Glen Whisby. The latter, who finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five emphatically blocked shots, had gotten too wild offensively for Turk's taste.
"He ate our [power forwards] up," Tech coach Bill Foster said.
A sated Myers said Turk told him what meal to order.
"He told me, `Everything that comes off, rebound, rebound, rebound, and Bernard will get free for the three.' And there he was," Myers said. "From then on, it was all us."
As it has been in the past three years of this series for Southern Mississippi. The Golden Eagles have beaten Tech nine straight times.
This time, Southern Miss exploited Tech's inside weakness, getting 26 points and 23 rebounds combined from Myers and Whisby compared with 15 points and 13 rebounds combined from Tech's Thomas Elliott and Carruth.
The Hokies got 53 points from their backcourt, including 14 - all in the second half - from freshman Damon Watlington and a career-high 23 from Steve Hall, a senior who started in his last home game.
Watlington has scored in double figures twice this year - each time against Southern Miss. He had four points during Tech's second-half run; Hall didn't score during the comeback, which was led by Purcell's eight points.
"They made adjustments. Once you make a few, they can identify who the shooters are," Hall said.
Elliott also played his last game at Cassell, getting nine points and nine rebounds. Elliott scored twice in the rally, including a hook shot that made it 62-60 with 6:24 left.
"We were playing combinations that hadn't been playing together very much," Hall said of the comeback.
Southern Miss made sure it didn't last.
"Our team never does anything easy," Turk said. "Instead of [us] going this way [up], Tech really got in the game. We didn't play very smart when we got the big lead. We quit executing."
Tech couldn't finish the job. The Hokies took a timeout after Haslett's two shots, but Hall missed inside and Terry Cameron hit a baseline leaner for a 70-60 score. Hall missed a 3-point attempt, and John Lacey hit two free throws to give Southern Miss a 12-point lead.
Tech cut it to 76-70 with 1:24 left on two Jim Jackson free throws and to\ see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL