Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311280145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Radford's hospitality differs from the conventional sort in one very clear-cut way: Instead of a domesticated fowl, it is the guest that is stuffed, carved and then served up to a group of gourmands also known as the men's basketball team.
The Highlanders, making their 1993-94 debut, knawed right through the Division III pilgrims from Cabrini College with nary a belch Saturday night before a handful of bemused fans at the Dedmon Center.
Always the gentlemanly hosts, the Highlanders smiled broadly at the vanquished and proffered friendly handshakes and consoling arms around their shoulders after a 98-54 roasting.
Every Radford player scored, including the newly bulked-up Balkan Dragan Skoko, who opened his senior season of foreign study with a four-point outburst.
It had all the earmarks of a Division I-Division III mismatch, except that the Highlanders were outrebounded 42-41.
"Any win helps a team," said Radford guard Anthony Walker, a freshman who scored 13 points in 24 minutes. "You don't want to take anybody lightly, whether they're Division III or not."
The Highlanders professed to be refining their defense, and that's what they seemed to do by forcing 28 turnovers and holding the Cavaliers (2-1) to 31.1 percent field-goal shooting.
"The defensive intensity was very good," said Ron Bradley, Radford's coach.
The Highlanders got 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocks from Tyrone Travis and 16 points and seven rebounds from forward Don Burgess. Five players scored in double figures.
"We got a chance to work on the things we needed to work on in a competitive atmosphere," Travis said.
Radford played you-got-it-we'll-swat-it the entire first half. Balls were going everywhere whenever the Cavaliers were on offense. If the Highlanders weren't trapping Cabrini ballhandlers, they were committing grand hardcourt larceny.
This made for a lot of turnovers (17) and a lot of easy buckets. In one hoot of a sequence, Johnny Watkins scored on an offensive rebound, stole the inbounds pass and scored again, and that bucket was followed by a Jason Lansdown inbounds-pass theft and a subsequent inbounds pass and dunk.
Six points in less than 10 seconds. No wonder the Highlanders led by 23 at the break. The Cavaliers didn't do all that well even when they did execute the fundamentals. Missing 18 of 24 shots (25 percent accuracy) before intermission was one example.
This team was a 20-game winner a season ago in Division III and had four starters back.
Still, it's tough to say what Radford has this season based on this outing. Obviously, the Highlanders were trying hard, but nobody ever made a reputation by beating up on his little brother on the driveway hoops court.
"We looked good," said another Radford newcomer, point guard Damian Ingram, who had nine assists. "But we still have a long way to go."
by CNB