Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY. LENGTH: Medium
Before a crowd of 19,542 at Freedom Hall on Thursday night, Tech discovered yet another way to do one of the things it does best - lose to to the Cardinals.
This time, the Hokies lost it where the Cardinals couldn't even guard them - at the free-throw line. Tech hit only 15 of 26 free throws, and that doomed the Hokies to a 78-74 Metro Conference loss.
Of course, losing to Louisville (11-7 overall, 2-4 Metro) is nothing new for Tech (13-5, 2-3). The loss was the Hokies' ninth in a row and 19th in their past 21 games against the Cardinals.
``Everybody in the Metro beats Louisville but us, and I don't understand that,'' said Tech forward Ace Custis, in a quiet Hokies dressing room. ``We can play with them. We can beat them. They're not that good. We had a good chance tonight and we just let it slip away - again.''
After an awful first half in which they made only nine of 26 shots from the field and were lucky to be down only eight (34-26), the Hokies watched Louisville score the first five points of the second half to go up by 13.
With the Freedom Hall faithful smelling a blowout, Tech got its game in gear. In the next 5 minutes, 10 seconds, the Hokies went on a 21-7 run to take a 47-46 lead on Damon Watlington's drive with 13:49 to play.
``I thought it was our game at that point,'' said Tech guard Shawn Good.
After Louisville countered with a 10-2 run to go back up by seven, the Hokies drew even again at 60 on Good's three-point play with 7:02 left.
Tech regained the lead for the final time at 68-67 on Shawn Smith's shake-and-bake move in the lane with 3:55 to play.
Jason Osborne then hit a 3-pointer - one of nine Cardinals bombs - to put Louisville up 70-68.
Down 71-70 with 1:30 left, Tech squandered a chance to take the lead when Custis was called for a three-second violation.
After Osborne hit one of two from the line to make it 72-70, Tech turned it over again, this time when Watlington's entry pass to Shawn Smith was tipped and stolen.
``That was a real killer,'' said Bill Foster, the Hokies' coach.
Tick Rogers, who led the Cardinals with a career-high 23 points, made it 74-70 with a pair of free throws with 45.1 seconds left.
After Tech cut it back to two on David Jackson's layup with 35.2 left, the Hokies again fouled Rogers, who drained two more free throws to make it 76-72.
Custis rebounded his own miss with 23.8 left to get Tech back within 76-74, but it was to no avail. The Hokies fouled DeJuan Wheat on the inbounds pass, and the sophomore guard hit both free throws to seal it with 14.9 seconds left.
Good said the Hokies wouldn't have been in that position if they had made their free throws. Tech was 7-of-13 from the line in the first half, 8-of-13 in the second.
``Louisville made theirs [21 of 29] and we didn't,'' Good said. ``We don't have to come back at the end if we had gotten it done at the line earlier. Free throws and bad defense - we gave up to too many easy transition baskets - killed us.
``They didn't beat us; we lost it. For some reason, we just can't beat those guys. We can't play a bad half like we did and expect to get it done, though.''
The Hokies, who flew in Thursday morning on a rare charter flight, must have had jet lag in the first half.
Tech missed 15 of its first 19 shots - five on Louisville blocks - and was behind 20-11 with 8:01 left after Brian Kiser and Alvin Sims drained back-to-back 3-pointers.
As if things weren't bad enough, Tech's starting guards - Good and Watlington - each drew his third personal foul between the 14- and 15-minute mark.
With Good on the bench and Watlington slowed, Louisville stretched the lead to 30-18 before letting the Hokies get back to an eight-point deficit at intermission.
``We had a hard time getting started for some reason,'' Foster said. ``It was a heck of a comeback in the second half, but we didn't get it done when we had to.''
Smith, who had struggled offensively the past three games, led Tech with 19 points. Good had 18 and Custis 14. Each missed three free throws.
``We've got to name 'em something else,'' Foster said, ``because they're not free to us. They're just throws.''
Tech, now three games down in the loss column to first-place UNC Charlotte, may get another shot at Louisville in the Metro Conference Tournament in March.
``We want to see 'em again,'' Custis said. ``In the tournament, that will be gut-check time. It's do-or-die then.''
by CNB