Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401090121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
On Saturday, Roanoke kicked that habit and a three-game Generals win streak by beating W & L 73-66 in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball game at the Warner Center.
The conference's coaches picked the Generals (4-6 overall, 2-4 ODAC) to finish ninth in their preseason poll, but in the past month W & L has defeated Virginia Wesleyan, Amherst and Emory & Henry. The only blemish on the 11-1 record of Roanoke, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III South Region, is a loss to the Wasps.
"We knew they were a much better team than [ninth in the ODAC]," said Page Moir, Roanoke's coach. "I expected it to be a tough game. They were coming at us with great pressure and they took advantage of their size."
Washington and Lee's front line includes 6-foot-7 sophomore Cam Dyer, the Generals' top scorer, and 6-5 Robert Miggens and Derek Carter. The Maroons' tallest starter is 6-5 junior forward Bryant Lee, who led the team with 18 points.
"Most of the teams we play are going to be a little bigger than us; we just need to make up for it," Lee said. " . . . We're still not in the shape we need to be in."
The Maroons (5-1 in the ODAC) pressed hard in the first half, but took awhile to warm up offensively. They took an eight-point lead, their largest of the half, with seven minutes remaining on a three-point play by Kevin Martin.
W & L went on a 6-0 run to cut its deficit to two, but consecutive baskets by Lee and senior forward Hilliary Scott widened the gap to six. Scott, Roanoke's leading scorer, finished with 16 points, two assists and two steals.
The Generals shaved the margin to one point on a 3-pointer by Carter, who scored seven of his 12 points in the first half. But a Lee basket with 11 seconds left gave Roanoke a 32-29 halftime lead.
Lee also finished with a team-high nine rebounds - five in the first half - two assists and two blocks. Overall, Roanoke held a 34-32 rebounding advantage.
"Bryant seemed like the only guy rebounding on defense for a while," Moir said. "And Bryant and Hilliary were the only ones rebounding on the offensive end in the first half."
The Generals came out in the second half with renewed enthusiasm, outscoring Roanoke 7-3 in the first 2 1/2 minutes to take a one-point lead. Matt Newton made the go-ahead basket on a jumper from the top of the key with 17 minutes, 37 seconds to play. Newton, a 5-9 senior guard, finished with a team-high 16 points and three assists.
Roanoke broke away with a 17-8 run in the next six minutes and seemed to have W & L stifled. But the Generals staged another rally to cut their deficit to two points.
Jonathan Coffman made one of his three 3-pointers to make it 63-61 with three minutes remaining and send the partisan W & L crowd of 1,000 into a frenzy.
Lee quieted the fans with a quick layup and scored six of the Maroons' final 12 points to put away the Generals.
"We weren't as intense as we needed to be," said Verne Canfield, W & L's coach. "We didn't do the little things on defense that we usually do. We let ourselves down a little."
Dyer finished with 15 points, Carter scored 12 and Coffman 11 for the Generals, who need one victory to equal last season's total. Freshman Chris Couzen led the team with four steals.
Martin finished with 11 points for the Maroons, who stay on the road for their next four games.
by CNB