Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502210051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was a winning combination against sixth-seeded Virginia Wesleyan.
Senior Bryant Lee had a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds as second-seeded Roanoke advanced to its ninth ODAC Tournament final with a 77-55 victory over the Marlins.
The Maroons (19-7), who are 9-0 in those championship games, will face top-seeded Hampden-Sydney at 7 p.m. today. The Tigers pulled out a wild victory over fourth-seeded Emory & Henry 93-88 in the first semifinal. (Box scores in College Basketball Scoreboard.)
Roanoke has won six consecutive games and is playing its best basketball of the season, coach Page Moir said.
``I knew going into this season that we were going to have ups and downs,'' Moir said. ``But we've put together a nice little streak here at the end, and that's where you want to be at tournament time.''
Lee scored 10 of Roanoke's first 12 points, but the Marlins stuck close for the first 14 minutes of the game.
Akil Stewart then came off the bench to help turn a 20-20 tie into a 39-26 Roanoke lead with three 3-pointers in a four-minute span. The Maroons scored the final eight points of the first half and the first six of the second half to make it 50-26.
Roanoke stretched the lead to as many as 30 points several times in the second half.
``That was one of the most intense efforts we've had all season,'' said Stewart, who finished with 13 points. ``The great thing about this team is that anyone can step up at any time.''
Both teams had 38 rebounds, five 3-pointers and 63 field-goal attempts. The Maroons converted 29 of those shots and the Marlins 23.
Roanoke, however, was 14-of-19 from the free-throw line, while Virginia Wesleyan (14-12) made four of nine attempts.
Percy Slight had all of his team-high 13 points in the first half for the Marlins. No other Virginia Wesleyan player scored in double figures.
In Sunday`s other semifinal:
Hampden-Sydney 93, Emory & Henry 88: Nate Schwab showed why he is a two-time first-team All-ODAC player, scoring 36 points to lead the Tigers to a victory over the Wasps in the other semifinal.
Schwab, a junior forward, was 8-of-16 from the field and shattered the ODAC Tournament record for free throws in a game, making 20 of 24 attempts. The previous record was 16 by Virginia Wesleyan's Trevor Williams in 1990.
``It seemed like every time I looked up I was at the free throw line, but that was good,'' Schwab said. ``It gave me a chance to catch my breath and get some easy points.''
Free throws were about the only easy points in the game, a run-and-gun matchup that featured a combined 138 field-goal attempts and 50 3-point attempts.
``That's the kind of game you hate to see somebody lose,'' said Tony Shaver, Hampden-Sydney's coach. ``Obviously, I'm glad to be on the winning side, but it was just a good, blood-and-guts battle.``
Hampden-Sydney (24-2), the ODAC's regular-season champion, shot 48 percent (29-of-60) and made six of 14 3-point attempts. Ryan Odom, the son of Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom, who was in attendance Sunday, was 4-of-6 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points.
Todd Kerr added 17 points and Jason Leonard grabbed 13 rebounds for the Tigers, who held a 44-36 advantage on the boards.
Tee Jennings, a graduate of William Fleming High School, added 10 points, five assists and three steals for Hampden-Sydney.
Emory & Henry (13-13) was led by Bassett's Dytanyon Norman, who scored 23 points. Freshman Jason Light of Floyd County added 20 points, including two free throws with 1:38 left in the game that tied the score at 88.
But Schwab scored underneath and added two of his free throws with 32 seconds left to put the Tigers back up for good.
NOTES: There's no love lost between Roanoke and Hampden-Sydney. The Tigers' only league loss this season was to Roanoke. Last season, Hampden-Sydney knocked the Maroons out of the NCAA Division III Tournament in the second round. ... The winner of today's championship game will receive an automatic NCAA bid, although the Tigers likely would be invited as an at-large team. With the field expanding this year to 64 teams, the Maroons also are in good shape to make their second consecutive trip to the tournament.
by CNB