Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994 TAG: 9401280223
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Cardinals' talent overwhelmed Tech's labor Thursday night in a 74-63 Metro Conference victory before an announced sellout crowd of 9,971 at Cassell.
Some seats were empty, but all tickets had been sold Thursday afternoon and the game will be listed as the first Cassell sellout since March 1990.
The reverberating sound, however, couldn't drag the Hokies past Louisville, which has won 17 of the past 19 meetings between the schools. Tech is 13-3 overall and 2-2 in the Metro, its only two losses in the past 11 games coming against the Cardinals.
Louisville, which handed the Hokies their first home loss in eight games this season, is 15-2 and 5-1. Tech had won its first seven home games by an average of almost 21 points.
"That's the best Louisville team I've faced since I've been here," said Hokies senior Jay Purcell.
Tech's best team in Purcell's four years trailed by 15 in the first half, went into the locker room down seven and cut its deficit to one point on Jimmy Carruth's bank shot with 13 minutes, 54 seconds left.
But the Hokies' usually airtight team defense was riddled by Louisville's one-on-one moves.
Greg Minor, a senior guard for the Cardinals, spin-dribbled Shawn Good to the free-throw line and sank a pull-up jumper to make it 46-43.
After Purcell missed a 3-pointer, Louisville freshman Jason Osborne wheeled past Ace Custis to the baseline for a layup and a 48-43 Cardinals lead.
A 3-pointer by Damon Watlington with 8:09 to go left Tech three points behind, 55-52. But Minor scored on a 10-foot turnaround with Jim Jackson in his face.
Jackson responded with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer with 7:16 left and Tech trailed 57-55. But Minor came back with a dribble-drive to the free-throw line and his soft pull-up made it 59-55 with 6:43 left.
Minor usually went one-on-one as the shot clock wound down.
"In that situation, I don't think I missed a shot in the second half," he said. "I'm the type of player that doesn't really try to force much. When I see an opportunity for myself, I take advantage of it."
Louisville built its advantage back to nine points with 4:13 left and never led by fewer than four the rest of the way en route to its fifth consecutive victory and 15th in its past 16 games.
"We stopped the plays," said Bill Foster, the Hokies' coach. "The problem was stopping the player."
Minor wasn't the only Cardinal who hurt Tech. Freshman point guard DeJuan Wheat had a team-high 20 points, including 14 in the first half. A dozen of those came on 3-pointers, the first nine contributing to a 14-7 Louisville getaway.
"If I can get that all season, I'd take it," Wheat said of how open he was.
Foster and Good said the Hokies may have been too anxious because of the crowd. Wheat said the only time Louisville was bothered was when it was trying to hear coach Denny Crum's instructions.
The Cardinals had made nine 3-pointers in their victory over Tech in Louisville on Jan. 13. The Hokies didn't triple-team Louisville center Clifford Rozier as often this time, but they still couldn't rotate quickly enough off their double-teams to cover the perimeter.
"They were just penetrating and pitching," Purcell said. "I was probably just helping out too much."
Tech had too little offense to catch the Cardinals. Only 12 points came from the Hokies' bench. Watlington, who had averaged 10.7 points at Cassell this season, was 2-of-8 for six points. Shawn Smith, with five double-figure scoring games off the bench, was 1-for-5 with four points.
A 6-1 run that ended with Good's fast-break layup narrowed Louisville's lead to 67-63 with 2:37 to go.
Minor fumbled a high entry pass from Osborne, and Custis saved the ball in a corner. But Good missed badly on a 12-foot baseline pull-up over Dwayne Morton.
After a Louisville timeout, the Cardinals inbounded and found Wheat in a mismatch with Jackson, but Wheat missed a shot. Good did, too, however, launching an open shot before a pass was thrown in the offense.
"It was wide-open. In practice, we worked on that 3-pointer I took," Good said. "[On the jumper], when I come off the screen I look to move to the basket. That's what I did."
Foster didn't complain.
"Some of the shots we missed were better than some of the ones they made," Tech's coach said.
by CNB