Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995                   TAG: 9503070022
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FAYED AT A LOSS AS CAREER ENDS

That time came on Friday afternoon for Winthrop University's MIke Fayed as he sat for the last time and watched his team get hammered. There was nothing unexpected about the latest indignity for Winthrop, since the No. 8-seeded Eagles were playing the top seed from UNC Greensboro.

The odd part was seeing Fayed, a 6-foot-1 senior point guard from Roanoke, sitting on the bench for the closing minutes of a 75-51 blowout. Guys don't accumulate 557 career assists by keeping the coaches company on the sidelines.

But this game was way out of hand and it was time to give some young players court time. Winthrop finished with four freshman and a sophomore on the floor.

``We wanted to give them a taste of what the tournament is like,'' Eagles coach Dan Kenney said.

So there Fayed sat, chin in palm, beside another exiled Virginian, assistant coach Bobby Stevens, looking as though he had a bad taste in his mouth.

``It seems like you don't know it's over until you're sitting there not playing and you know we don't have any more chance to win,'' Fayed said. ``I've never felt that way before.''

Certainly not when he was a senior at Cave Spring High School.

``No,'' he said, ``because I knew I was going to go on and play here. Now, I'm not going to play anymore. It's strange. I'll have to get used to being an ordinary person.''

Very little has been ordinary about Fayed. A four-year starter, he holds Winthrop's Division I career record for assists and fell just 21 short of the Big South Conference career mark.

``Missing the conference record wasn't that big a deal for me,'' he said. ``I'm just glad to be in the top four. In 20 years, I'm not going to be going around saying I was second all-time in conference assists. Hopefully, I'll have accomplished more than that by then.''

Fayed, who will have his degree in accounting by next December, isn't mired in melancholy that he played on teams that went 31-81 during his tenure.

``You go to college for other reasons than just basketball,'' he said. ``I've had the best time I could have had here. I'll remember being with the guys, going places, the people I've met.

``I'll remember the positive things.''

His career ended with him at the end of the bench with fellow guard and senior LaShawn Coulter (1,660 career points).

He and Coulter were the last to rise from the bench when it was over. Coulter lingered the longest of all.

``You don't know what it's like until you go through it,'' said Fayed, concluding his final collegiate interview.