Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Advantage Keydets, because their team roster includes the Prince of Tides, junior guard Bobby Prince from Blue Ridge. Prince scored a team-high 19 points, including seven of eight free-throw attempts in the game's final five minutes, as VMI downed their Southern Conference opponent 81-75 at Cameron Hall.
``We made some smart decisions down the stretch,'' VMI coach Bart Bellairs said. ``Namely, we had the Bobby Prince principle. When you've got a guy that can nail free throws and wants the ball like that ... it's pretty key. The guy's smarter than I am.''
Prince received ample assistance from Lawrence Gullette (18 points), Bryan Taueg (18 points) and Lester Johnson (16 points).
Quinn Hawood and Chris Alford led the Wildcats with 19 and 18 points, respectively. VMI improved its record to 8-15 overall and 5-7 in the conference. Davidson dropped to 13-11, 6-6.
Prince downplayed his effort.
``It was a team thing,'' Prince said, citing the support of four teammates. ``Lester Johnson played a heck of a game. Gullette played well and when I got in early foul trouble, Howard Byrd came in and made three important free throws.
``Taueg didn't shoot well in the first half [1-for-4 for five points] but he got it together in the second [3-of-4 on 3-pointers].''
Prince entered the game shooting 88.2 percent from the foul line, on target to break the school record set in 1980. Monday night, he shot 87.5 percent.
``You can't hit 90 percent all the time,'' said Prince, who very nearly does.
The field-goal shooting and rebounding were virtually identical, so what was the difference between the two teams?
``They beat us for the loose balls,'' said Davidson coach Bob McKillop. ``They got fouled and they made their free throws.''
The win was important to VMI in several respects. It was its first win against Davidson in eight years, breaking a six-game losing streak and it gave the Keydets their sixth home win of the season, the most in four years.
VMI opened the game in double-time, taking leads of 8-2 and 11-4. When Taueg hit a 3-pointer, VMI led 16-9 with 14 minutes, 40 seconds left in the first half.
Davidson then went on an 8-0 run in the next two minutes to move ahead 17-16. The Keydets scored only 17 more points the rest of the half.
by CNB