Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 21, 1994 TAG: 9411220073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``They were going to hack us as long as we missed,'' said Moir, Roanoke's coach, ``and it worked until the last two minutes.''
The Maroons made their free throws down the stretch and outlasted Ferrum 104-90 to win the Salem Bank & Trust Tip-Off Tournament championship game at the Bast Center. Roanoke has won the tournament eight of the 11 years it has been played.
Roanoke (2-0) won Sunday's game more because of volume than accuracy, as the Maroons converted 37 of a school-record 61 free-throw attempts (61 percent). The Panthers (1-1) were charged with 40 fouls, or an average of one per minute.
Roanoke's 14-point margin of victory matched its free-throw edge, as Ferrum made 23 of 32 attempts from the line.
The Panthers led once (2-0) and fell behind 28-14 midway through the first half. But streaky shooting from John Breedlove and Marcus Toney and hustle on the boards kept Ferrum in the game. Breedlove buckets cut Ferrum's deficit to one point twice in the second half (48-47 and 76-75).
Tournament MVP Bryant Lee led Roanoke with 29 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.
``We knew our size inside was the best option to go to,'' said Lee, a 6-foot-5 senior. ``We knew we could pound it.
``We got in the bonus early in the second half, so we wanted our guards to drive. Of course, we weren't knocking down the free throws until the end.''
Guard Jason Bishop missed four of six free-throw attempts late in the game, but Ferrum failed to capitalize.
``Our foul trouble definitely hurt us,'' said Bill Pullen, the Panthers' coach. ``We had three starters - Kevin Keats, Chuck Ellis and Albert Hobbs - foul out, and the freshmen backing them up are not used to pressure situations.
``But then we just missed shots at the end. The reason we had two timeouts left is that we never could score to call a timeout.''
Breedlove and Toney finished with 23 and 20 points, respectively, and made three 3-pointers each. Breedlove attempted 25 shots from the floor, many from difficult angles and distances.
``We played like an average team,'' Pullen said, ``and we played a very good team.''
Rose-Hulman Institute, from Terre Haute, Ind., won the consolation game, rolling Augsburg (Minn.) College 74-56.
by CNB