Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402270088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There was no ceremony to cut the nets Saturday at the Salem Civic Center after the championship game of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.
Top-seeded Roanoke won its first ODAC title since 1987 with a 103-83 victory over sixth-seeded Emory & Henry and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
But the nets stayed intact.
"We didn't cut down the nets because we don't feel like we're done. As far as we're concerned, there are five games left in our season," said Bryant Lee, who led Roanoke women win ODAC tournament. D5 the Maroons (26-1) with 24 points and 10 rebounds and was selected to the all-tournament team along with teammate Dustin Fonder.
"We'll cut them down in Buffalo," said Fonder, referring to the site of the NCAA semifinals and championship game next month.
The Maroons, ranked fourth in the nation and first in the South Region, likely will earn the region's top seeding and get a bye in the first round of the tournament. The 40-team field will be announced tonight.
Fonder had five assists, which tied the Roanoke record for career assists at 391. Mike Styles set the record from 1978 to 1981.
Fonder also scored a season-high 14 points for the Maroons, who continued to pad their school record-setting win streak. Roanoke has won 23 consecutive games, its only loss coming to the Wasps on Dec. 1.
"They were overplaying the other guys so I had to step up and look for my shot," said Fonder, a former North Cross School standout.
Mike Thornton, a reserve forward who was averaging 6.5 points per game, also stepped up to have his best game of the season. Thornton had 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including two 3-pointers. He was 6-of-6 on free-throw attempts.
"Mike played as he's capable of playing," Roanoke coach Page Moir said. "He's pretty much been a part-time starter since his sophomore year, and he's done everything we've asked. He came out today and gave us a big lift when we needed it."
Thornton had 12 points in the first half when the Maroons built an early lead. They led by 12 points with three minutes remaining before the Wasps (13-14) went on an 8-2 run to make it 48-42 at halftime.
Roanoke opened the second half with a 10-2 run and extended the lead to 14 points when Lee made a layup on an assist by Kevin Martin with 17 minutes, 5 seconds to play. Emory & Henry got as close as nine points the rest of the way.
Roanoke didn't make a field goal in the last five minutes but made 19 of 22 free throws down the stretch.
The Maroons shot 83 percent from the free-throw line, making 38 of 46 attempts. From the floor, Roanoke shot 53 percent (31-of-59).
"The last three games, we've played more consistently than we have all season," Moir said. "We're playing as well as we can right now."
Senior Hilliary Scott, the tournament's most valuable player, had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Maroons dominated the rebounding 45-28.
"Overall, that was probably our best game of the season," Scott said. "We just thought about all of the things we've been working on since the summer, all of the conditioning and 6 a.m. workouts. We knew that it just wouldn't be right if we lost."
Senior Scott Butcher led the Wasps with 22 points and was selected to the all-tournament team. Shannon Scott added 19 points and Dytanyon Norman, a sophomore from Bassett, had 14.
Moir, in his fifth season as coach of the Maroons, said he felt spoiled at an early age with the success of his team.
"We've accomplished a lot already and the guys have one more goal in mind," Moir said. "And being around my dad [former Roanoke coach Charlie Moir] and his teams, I know that anything can happen."
Moir said he understood why the Maroons weren't ready to cut the nets quite yet.
"They've been dreaming about going to the [NCAA] Tournament since they were kids," he said. "They want to cut them down at the tournament and bring those back to Salem."
by CNB