Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994 TAG: 9402260104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ Bryant Lee had an idea to run by his Roanoke College teammates before they took to the court Friday in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.
"As soon as the game started, I told the guys to come out and play like it was the last five minutes of the game and we were down by five points," said the junior forward.
Lee held up his end of the bargain, scoring Roanoke's first six points, and the Maroons cruised to a 96-79 victory over Bridgewater in a semifinal at the Salem Civic Center.
It was the 21st consecutive victory for top-seeded Roanoke (25-1), which advanced to the championship game against sixth-seeded Emory & Henry at 2 p.m. today. The Wasps are the only team to beat the Maroons this season.
Fourth-seeded Bridgewater (16-10) led by one point in the first half before Roanoke went on a 15-5 run to take a 31-20 lead. Mike Thornton scored six and Kevin Martin had five in the spurt, and the Maroons never trailed again. Martin had 10 points in the half, including two early 3-pointers that sparked the Maroons, ranked fourth in the nation in this week's coaches' poll.
"I always try to tell myself to have no conscience when I go out there," said Martin, a 6-foot-4 senior forward from Collinsville. "I missed my first three shots, but then made those 3s. I knew that I would eventually get things going."
Junior Joe Schrantz gave the Maroons their biggest lead of the first half on a layup that made it 31-20 with 5 minutes, 49 seconds left. But Jeff Berry scored six points down the stretch for Bridgewater to make it 38-32 at halftime.
The Eagles got as close as three points down several times in the second half. But Roanoke's Hilliary Scott made a 3-pointer to start a 19-9 run that gave the Maroons a 78-62 lead at the 6:21 mark.
"We came out ready to play in the second half," said Scott, who finished with a team-high 19 points. "We were moving and cutting hard on offense, and that was the key."
Roanoke shot a season-high 61 percent, including 72 percent (23-of-32) in the second half, and made nine of 15 3-point attempts. The Maroons avoided the 12- to 15-point deficits that have made winning so difficult recently.
"Offensively, it was nice not to be in that hole and have to dig ourselves out," said Page Moir, Roanoke's coach. "I'm sick of that . . . Our guys did a great job playing a consistent game. The bench really came through and we were able to rest our starters."
Berry, the league's leading scorer, had 25 points to pace a listless Bridgewater team, playing on about 13 hours' rest. The Eagles' quarterfinal game against Virginia Wesleyan didn't end until 11 p.m. Thursday.
Bill Leatherman, Bridgewater's coach, said fatigue definitely was a factor.
"I don't think we had a lot of legs left to do what we needed to do," he said. "We weren't able to give the kind of fight we wanted."
Center Dan Rush added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Eagles. Chad Edwards had 14 points and seven assists, and Craig Tutt added 13 points.
Lee and Martin finished with 16 points each and Mike Thornton had 11 for Roanoke, which hasn't won the league tournament since 1987. \
No. 6 Emory & Henry 86
No. 7 Guilford 70
Scott Butcher had 24 points and seven rebounds as the Wasps advanced to the title game by defeating the Quakers.
Dytanyon Norman and J.J. Sims added 11 points each for Emory & Henry (13-13), which will meet Roanoke at 2 p.m. today. Jason Bissette added a team-high eight rebounds and Butcher grabbed seven for the Wasps, who hit 44 percent of their field-goal attempts. E&H made 30 of 39 free-throw attempts.
Guilford (11-14) was 25-of-40 on free throws and shot 35 percent from the field. The Quakers were led by Paul Ferrell with 20 points, Clifton Howard with 19 and Andre Ricketts with 11.
This marks the fifth time in seven years the Wasps have reached the championship game. They are 0-5 in those games. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB