Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994 TAG: 9401260064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"That hurt," said Maroons coach Page Moir. "I think that has a lot to do with the success we're having this season. We've played well, but we haven't talked about getting this many wins by this date. Our goals have been end-of-the-year goals."
After being one of three 20-win teams that didn't receive a place in the NCAA Division III Tournament's 40-team field last season, Roanoke has a 15-1 start that has surprised even its fifth-year coach. While the Maroons can look back and be impressed with their recent stretch of five straight road wins in two weeks, Moir knows his team can't afford to look ahead.
Emory & Henry, the only team to beat Roanoke this season, visits the Bast Center tonight. In what has become one of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's tough rivalries, Moir's teams are 2-7 against the Wasps, who shot 54 percent and beat Roanoke 101-96 on Dec. 1.
E&H's superb coach, Bob Johnson, has one of his youngest teams and is only .500.
It appears that Roanoke - which finished second in the ODAC regular season a year ago then was upset in the conference tournament semifinals - will have to beat Hampden-Sydney for the title this time.
Each has one league loss. The Tigers fell at Bridgewater, which has fallen two losses behind Roanoke and Hampden-Sydney in the standings. Roanoke and the Tigers still have two Saturday afternoon dates to play, but the Maroons, with two more wins and five of their last eight games at home, have the edge. The Tigers are the only other team that has a historical edge on Moir's teams (4-5).
It's obvious Roanoke has its best club since the 1979-85 stretch of seven seasons in which the Ed Green-coached Maroons averaged almost 26 wins. The 1983-84 team that finished 27-2 is the only club in school history with a better start (16-0) than this group of veterans.
The Maroons have a 19-game winning streak at Bast. The last visitor to win on the Salem campus - surprise! - was E&H, in December 1992. Roanoke has won 15 of the past 16 ODAC games and 11 games in a row since the loss at Emory. The school record in a single season is 19, culminating in the 1972 small-college championship by a team coached by Moir's father, Charlie.
These Maroons have won with balance, with what can often be an unwieldy 11-man rotation and with nine players scoring in double figures at least once. Moir's starting lineup includes four senior starters led by smooth Hilliary Scott and power-playing junior Bryant Lee. They're outrebounding opponents by more than six per game and rank in the top 20 nationally in free-throw shooting at 71.4 percent.
"We've been a team of spurts," Moir said. "We may play someone even for a while, but then when it's time to win the game, they've had what it takes. I guess it's like the old Fiddlin' Five at Kentucky. What's surprised me is that they haven't let anything slip away.
"These guys are tough. When Bryant Lee went down with an injured ankle, they found a way to win. Different coaches in Division III coach differently. In some ways, I approach our teams here like the players are on scholarship, like the situation when I was a Division I assistant.
"No team I've worked with, at Virginia Tech or Cincinnati, has had the commitment that this team has had. Never have I been around a team that's worked harder or better together. These guys are committed. The work they've done on their own shows that."
Roanoke was ranked second in the South Region, behind Greensboro College, on Tuesday for the second straight week. In the first Division III national coaches' poll, to be revised today, the Maroons ranked 11th.
Still, they're wondering when Bast will be the site of a real coming-out party. Their average home attendance has been less than half the house, barely above 1,000.
For Roanoke, which hasn't had a losing season in 18 years, the box office is about the only place the program comes up short.
by CNB