Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
And that was before the Spartans polished up their shooting form.
UNC-G, the top-rated team in the Big South Conference preseason poll, lived up to that billing by dusting Radford University 84-68 at the Dedmon Center on Wednesday night.
The Spartans (7-2 overall, 1-0 Big South) looked handsome in their victory, shooting 56.5 percent in the first 20 minutes and making more than half of their shots (54 percent) for the first time this season.
``Some of the shots that haven't been going down did tonight,'' Spartans coach Mike Dement said.
UNC-G had been averaging 41.4 percent field goal accuracy and made 35.2 percent or less of its shots in three games. Not surprisingly, it lost two of those.
Still, it's obvious that shooting woes and constantly playing on the road, hazards that might crumble many teams, do not matter to the Spartans.
``We gave up 84 points in our own place,'' said Radford coach Ron Bradley, whose team was second-best in the conference by allowing 70.2 points per game. ``They shot better than we expected.''
UNC-G had two key stretches. One was when it erased an early 8-0 Radford lead. The second came in the second half after the Highlanders whittled a 59-39 deficit to 10 points with 4 minutes, 17 seconds to play.
The first-half rally was entirely the product of defense.
``I've got to give them credit,'' Bradley said. ``For a six- or eight-minute stretch there, they completely shut us down.''
It was during that sequence that the Spartans assumed a lead they did not relinquish. Down the stretch, UNC-G sank 10 of its last 14 free-throw attempts. Foul shooting had not been a Spartans speciality. They had been shooting 60.2 percent on free throws.
Against Radford, UNC-G bottomed out 16 of 22, with guards Derrick Nix, a freshman, and Scott Hartzell connecting on a combined 8 of 10. Nix and Skeet Woolard, another guard, shared team scoring honors with 13 points apiece, and Jonathan Clifton and Terry Daughtry each scored 10.
Another important factor for the Spartans was their 37-26 domination of the backboards. Radford didn't get many second shots.
``We've been a good rebounding team the past two years,'' Dement said.
Radford got 19 points and seven assists from point guard Anthony Walker, who broke out of a mild slump. But Walker was not pleased with his performance.
``I should have gotten the ball inside more,'' he said.
Center Antoine Dalton scored 15, but he went long stretches without touching the ball. That was part of the reason Radford attempted only seven free throws (making five) with no first-half attempts.
``I don't think in all my years of coaching I've ever had a team go a half without shooting a free throw,'' Bradley said.
Walker wondered about that too.
``On some occasions, people were doing an awful lot of acting,'' he said. ``I told an official at one point that we were out here to play basketball, not try to win an Oscar.''
There wasn't much acting involved with the way the Spartans managed to dominate substantial portions of the game.
``They got a few uncontested shots, but a lot of the ones they made were tough,'' Bradley said. ``They've got a very good basketball team.''
by CNB