Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 13, 1993 TAG: 9312130081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For the moment, Roanoke has more swagger. The Maroons crunched Randolph-Macon 73-59 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference game, thanks mostly to a 20-8 burst in the first nine minutes of the second half.
Roanoke (8-1 overall, 4-1 in the ODAC) won its fourth in a row and sent Randolph-Macon (3-3, 1-1) to its third consecutive loss. The game, played before 742 spectators, featured a couple of hard fouls and a few on-the-floor tangles that usually resulted in scowls and thrust-out chests.
"I think that's good, maybe, for us," said Roanoke's Hilliary Scott, who led all scorers with 23 points. "It mean's we're up in the game, we're intense, we're ready to play."
Roanoke had been ready since February, when Yellow Jackets guard Kurt Axe hit a last-second shot to beat the Maroons 61-59 in an ODAC Tournament semifinal.
Axe, who had six turnovers against Roanoke's pressure Sunday, said this wasn't a typical mid-December matchup.
"It's safe to say there is definitely a stiff rivalry here now," he said.
Randolph-Macon led 10-5 after 4 1/2 minutes and 15-11 with 12 minutes, 40 seconds left in the first half. But Bryant Lee's follow shot with 9:20 remaining made it 20-19 Roanoke, and the Maroons never trailed again, although the Yellow Jackets tied it at 26 with 3:36 to go in the half.
Scott, Roanoke's offensive leader, kept the Maroons close by scoring nine of their first 11 points.
"I think I was looking for my shot a little bit more in this game," Scott said. "I just wanted to make sure tonight I came out with a solid game."
Lee, who had missed Roanoke's past two games with an injury, had nine rebounds and eight points - including two on an alley-oop dunk off a 30-foot pass from Dustin Fonder in the second half.
Roanoke coach Page Moir's 10-deep team can survive the loss of a player, but Moir was happy to see Lee back.
"Bryant brings the experience factor to the table," Moir said.
The Maroons' pressure - sometimes subtle, sometimes overt - eventually brought Randolph-Macon to its knees. In Roanoke's second-half spurt, the Yellow Jackets either committed a turnover or were unable to run their offense four times.
That stretch included a Roanoke steal and a Scott layup, followed by an Axe throwaway and a Kevin Martin layup that made it 43-35 Roanoke with 18:00 left and prompted coach Hal Nunnally to call time out.
"[Their pressure] broke our poise," Axe said. "We just didn't stay patient with it."
It showed. Roanoke led by as many as 19, at 64-45 with 6:35 left, before an 8-0 run by Randolph-Macon.
That was as close as the Yellow Jackets got the rest of the way. Randolph-Macon sorely missed its early 3-point shooting; the Yellow Jackets were 5-for-8 in the first half and 1-for-5 in the second.
Nunnally said his inside players have yet to become consistent threats. Moir figured Roanoke could weather the long-range barrage.
"They're going to drop, and they're not going to drop," he said of the 3-point shots.
Moir knows enough about that, having seen his team follow a mediocre first half with a strong second half in each of its past three games.
"I need to figure that out soon, because I'm getting tired of it," Moir said.
by CNB