Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 7, 1994 TAG: 9403070055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
UNC Charlotte, on the other hand, almost didn't leave the arena at all.
The 49ers, apparently ill after Tech withstood their late second-half rally, sequestered themselves in their locker room for almost two hours, permitting no visitors other than immediate staff.
Jeff Mullins, UNCC's ninth-year coach, said the meeting covered the team's lack of leadership and emotion. The 49ers entered the game with slim chances of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid but likely saw that disappear.
"We've missed the one ingredient to being a really, really good team, and that is having that contagious enthusiasm," Mullins said, two hours after the game ended. "We have to face up to the fact that something's been missing, and we have to all fix it.
"I was about to let 'em go about 45 minutes ago. But I said, `We talked about it, and it's not fixed. . . . This team has done some good things. It's our bad things that are haunting us.' "
The Hokies, conversely, were chatty and cheerful. Tech's body-knocking defense held the 49ers - poor field-goal shooters, anyway, at 42 percent for the season - to an all-time low 25.4 percent, and Tech finished 17-9 overall, 6-6 in the Metro Conference.
Freshman Ace Custis' 18 points included two free throws and a follow shot in a one-minute span that broke a 55-55 tie and gave Tech a 59-55 lead with 48 seconds left.
Custis' nine rebounds gave him 233 this year, breaking Dale Solomon's 15-year-old Tech freshman record. And Jimmy Carruth's three blocked shots tied former Louisville star Pervis Ellison for the most in a season in Metro Conference games. Carruth's 40 blocks in 12 games came in two fewer games than Ellison's.
"I can't even explain this feeling," Carruth said. "I'm a very happy guy. A winning season, I [tied] a record, Ace broke a record - yeah!"
Tech's next chance for smiles comes Friday in the first round of the conference tournament in Biloxi, Miss., where the fourth-seeded Hokies face fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth at noon at Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
UNCC finished 15-11 and 7-5.
Win or lose on Friday, Tech coach Bill Foster said he thinks the Hokies have clinched their first postseason bid since 1985-86.
"Our kids have accomplished every goal we set for ourselves this year," Foster said.
The Hokies, who broke a 16-game Metro road losing streak Feb. 19 at South Florida, won their second straight league road game by building a 10-point second-half lead and getting key plays from Custis, Carruth, Jay Purcell and Shawn Good down the stretch.
The 49ers rallied from the free-throw line - they made their last 12 - but broke down while the clock was running. They made two field goals in the last 7 1/2 minutes, and, after scoring their last basket, allowed the Hokies to pass and dribble away the final 18 seconds without sending Tech to the free-throw line.
After Good missed two free throws that would have given Tech a four-point lead with 2:19 left, UNCC's Andre Davis made two to tie the score at 55 with 2:07 left.
With 1:48 left, Custis was fouled on a drive and made both free throws.
"Shawn [Smith] told me, `It's pressure time,' " Custis said. "I told him there wasn't any pressure."
UNCC's 6-foot Delano Johnson drove to the paint but had to double-pump and put up a wild layup because 6-10 Carruth was hanging over him like a shade tree.
The ball came loose in the paint, and Purcell fell on it and quickly called time out to save the possession for Tech.
Tech's Smith, with the shot clock under 10 seconds, airballed a short jumper - but Custis had squirmed free underneath, rebounded and laid it in.
"When [he] shot the ball, I saw it was going to be long," Custis said. "I tried to slide in front of my man."
He put Tech in front 59-55 with 43 seconds left. UNCC's Johnson - who was 1-for-10 - missed badly on a 12-foot jumper, and Good went up for the rebound and was fouled.
He sank two free throws with 31 seconds left to make Tech's lead 61-55.
Good, who had his streak of 22 consecutive starts stopped when Don Corker started on Senior Day last Saturday against UNCC, began on the bench again Sunday.
Foster remembered Tech's 11-0 start in its victory over UNCC last week and said he was "superstitious" about starting the same group again. Good was just opportunistic.
"It's not about starting. It's about winning," the sophomore guard said. "We just kept playing hard. You can't worry about [missed free throws].
"We just played good help defense. If we keep that up, we're going to go a long way in the Metro."
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB