Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502130046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke College and Washington and Lee University have met 84 times in men's basketball.
Their confrontations often have been likened to chess games, with the outcome hinging upon strategic planning and acumen.
But Saturday night, before a crowd of 1,452 at the Bast Center, the Maroons had a Bishop on their side of the board - and the Generals did not.
Checkmate, Roanoke College.
Sophomore guard Jason Bishop recorded a career-high 27 points, seven assists and six steals, guiding the Maroons to a 94-80 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory. Roanoke avenged an 85-65 loss to the Generals in Lexington on Jan.7.
Bishop's masterful performance narrowly upstaged his counterpart, W&L sophomore guard Chris Couzen, who hit seven of 11 3-point attempts and scored 29 points.
Bishop's offensive support came from Bryant Lee (18 points and eight rebounds), Tim Braun (14 points) and Joe Schrantz (12 points).
Cam Dyer contributed 16 points for the Generals.
The Maroons improved their record to 16-7 overall, 11-6 in the conference. With Saturday's victory, Roanoke has defeated every ODAC team at least once this season. W&L's record fell to 9-14, 5-12.
Was it simply the home-court advantage that accounted for a 34-point swing from the teams' first encounter five weeks ago?
``We were a lot more patient tonight against their defense,'' said Page Moir, Roanoke's coach. ``[Coach] Verne [Canfield] always has done a good job mixing up their defenses, and in the past, that's caused us problems. Tonight, we made a few more passes and found the best shot.''
The Maroons shot 68 percent in the first half, and 61 percent for the game - with 25 assists. Their most impressive statistic, however, was Bishop's 100 percent accuracy early in the second half.
In a 1-minute, 49-second span, Bishop scored 10 points on a steal, two layups and two 3-pointers. Roanoke's five-point lead suddenly was a commanding 15-point margin at 54-39.
Bishop made his first eight shots from the field and finished 11-of-13.
``I finally started playing a little bit of defense,'' Bishop said. ``My steals got me going.
``If I hit my first couple of shots, I'm all right. If not, I lose my confidence.''
Before Saturday, Bishop was averaging 13 points a game on 45.4 percent shooting.
``Bishop was tremendous,'' Moir said. ``He scored, played defense, rebounded ... about the only thing he did wrong was miss a couple of foul shots near the end.''
The Generals outrebounded Roanoke 15-5 in the first half and opened an early 14-7 lead.
Six minutes into the game, W&L called a timeout to slow the pace - although the Generals held a six-point lead.
``We were getting tired,'' Canfield said, ``and they stole the ball from us a couple of times. I had to remind our team how we got there.''
Instead, the Maroons took the initiative, scoring seven consecutive points to go up 20-17 at the 11:29 mark.
The margin was five points or less until Bishops's flurry in the second half.
W&L was not finished, though. Trailing by 16 points (77-61) with 6:57 left, the Generals scored 10 points in the next 2:18 to cut their deficit to six (77-71).
Again, Bishop took control, scoring baskets on three consecutive possessions.
``This was one of our best efforts of the year,'' Moir said. ``In the first half, we didn't rebound like we should, but we got it together in the second half.''
by CNB