Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311280092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LANDOVER, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Coach Bill Foster wasn't thrilled a few months ago when Virginia Tech athletic director Dave Braine moved a home basketball game with West Virginia to USAir Arena for a six-figure payoff from promoter Russ Potts.
Now that the Hokies have stashed in their getaway bag a 63-58 season-opening victory Saturday over the Mountaineers, playing a traditional rival 200 miles from home seems downright logical.
"Oh, yeah, no question," Foster said. "A win here for our kids, I think, is better for their confidence than winning in Cassell [Coliseum]."
True, said Jay Purcell.
"I think we'd rather do that," the Hokies guard said, asked if a tough opener is better than a "gimme" opener. "It really tests the team."
Both teams found the exam taxing. They combined for 55 turnovers (29 by Tech) and 34 percent field-goal shooting. WVU shot 39 percent from the free-throw line.
Tech, which missed its first 10 field-goal attempts and trailed 11-1 at one point, led by 13 early in the second half and was tied at 41 with 9 minutes, 16 seconds left and at 49 with 4:04 left.
Freshman Ace Custis broke the 49-49 tie with a three-point play after a fast-break pass from Shawn Smith, and Custis' two free throws with 3:36 left put Tech up 54-49.
WVU closed to 57-53 with 35 seconds to go, but Jim Jackson and Purcell made four and two free throws, respectively, to shoo away the Mountaineers and please a couple of thousand Tech fans in the 19,035-seat arena.
"It was an ugly game, but some of our best wins since I've been here have been ugly games," said Foster, beginning his third season as the Hokies' coach.
Had the game not been moved, Tech would have opened Dec. 4 in Blacksburg against Coastal Carolina. Instead, the Hokies got a $200,000 guarantee and their second consecutive season-opening victory under Foster.
And, not to be forgotten, a victory over West Virginia.
"I hate West Virginia more than I do Virginia," Smith said. "There's something about West Virginia, a certain mystique about them we don't too much care for."
Smith said his buddy, WVU forward Pervires Greene, had been "talking junk" before the season about the Mountaineers' three consecutive victories over the Hokies.
Greene and frontcourt mate Ricky Robinson were no factors in the first half and too late getting involved in the second.
The pair had combined for four points at halftime. That and point guard Marsalis Basey's 2-for-8 field-goal shooting helped Tech lead by seven at intermission.
Foster figured WVU would try to batter the Hokies inside, and coach Gale Catlett said his Mountaineers wanted to - except Robinson and Greene didn't get open.
Custis and Jim Jackson pestered them most of the game.
"Custis makes a difference in there on defense," Foster said.
WVU's defense, meanwhile, sent the Hokies scrambling. Tech expected some zones; it got man-to-man.
"We kind of played ad-lib about 75 percent of the day on offense," Foster said.
Anxiety played a part, Foster and his players agreed. Custis said he didn't calm down until the second half; Smith said Purcell, a senior, barked at the team at halftime.
"I just reminded them we had the same thing the last two years," Purcell said. "We had a [halftime] lead, and [this time] we weren't going to give it up."
Tech started the second half with a 6-0 run to lead 36-23 with 17:31 left. WVU, picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference, rallied when Tech got nervous against its press.
The Mountaineers took one lead in the second half - 47-46 with 5:26 left on Leon Agnew's follow shot - but a Smith free throw, Chet Loudermilk's missed 3-pointer and a Custis layup off a pass from Purcell gave Tech back the lead.
WVU mystified Catlett, in his 16th year as the Mountaineers' head coach.
"I saw some turnovers I just didn't think would occur," he said. "We had a great preseason, the seniors have been leading them. I'm not sure they've heard much of what I've had to say in practice. This will get their attention."
It won't get this game back to Landover, though, at least not next season. Catlett, who had to sign off on the deal for Saturday's game, said he rejected promoter Russ Potts' request to play next season's WVU-Tech game here.
After what happened Saturday, Tech probably would prefer Landover to Morgantown, W.Va.
Where else, for example, could Foster get a postgame thumbs-up from Georgetown coach John Thompson, who leaned into the interview room before his team played Virginia State?
"It definitely worked out great for us," Foster said.
by CNB