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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 9, 1995                   TAG: 9503090056
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WSLS TO AIR TECH OPENER IN TOURNEY

Virginia Tech's opening-round game Friday in the Metro Conference men's basketball tournament will be televised live at noon by WSLS (Channel 10). The Roanoke station negotiated with Home Team Sports to obtain what had been exclusive cable rights to the first round in Louisville, Ky.

If the Hokies advance with a victory Friday over Southern Mississippi at Freedom Hall, their semifinal and the Metro championship game also will be televised by WSLS.

Prime Network has exclusive cable rights to the Metro's first round. The region's Prime affiliate, HTS, is televising Big East Conference tournament games live Friday, and will show the three Metro first-round games via tape delay Saturday. The Tech-Southern Mississippi game is scheduled to be shown at 8 a.m. on HTS.

Prime officials told WSLS that if HTS gave approval, the Roanoke station could air the Hokies' game in the school's home market. The regional sports cable network agreed, in exchange for some HTS promotional considerations, said WSLS news director Bill Foy.

If the Hokies win Friday, the Raycom telecast of the Tech-UNC Charlotte semifinal will be aired by WSLS at 7 p.m. Saturday. Channel 10 will show the Metro final at 1 p.m. Sunday, no matter who reaches the title game.

In other sports in the region:

In Lexington, John Ripley of Buena Vista had four goals and Rob Worrell of Lexington had two goals and four assists to lead VMI to a 13-11 victory over Holy Cross in men's lacrosse Wednesday.

Joe Brockman added two goals and three assists for the Keydets (2-0). Rob Callahan led Holy Cross (0-1) with three goals and two assists.

In Charlottesville, Doug Knight scored six goals and had three assists and Michael Watson added five goals and two assists as second-ranked Virginia defeated No.16 Penn State 20-12 in men's lacrosse. Greg Jackson and Mike O'Keefe each had three goals and one assist for Penn State (2-1). The Cavaliers are 2-0.

Pitcher Keith Mayhew improved his record to 3-0 as Ferrum defeated Philadelphia Textile 8-4 in Deland, Fla. Chad France went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in and Jason Wilson was 3-for-3 with two RBI for the Panthers (6-2).

In Lexington, Lindsay Coleman scored five goals on six shots and set up one goal as Washington and Lee opened its season with a 15-2 rout of Bridgewater in Old Dominion Athletic Conference women's lacrosse game.

``The Sports Line,'' a regular feature of Lynchburg's WLNI (105.9 FM), will add sister station of WROV (1240 AM) in Roanoke to its call-in audience today through Saturday for the ACC tournament.

Bob Sturm will serve as host of the shows those three days from the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. The regular ``Line'' airs 2-3 p.m. Thursday, with Friday's shows from 10-11 a.m. and 4:30-6 p.m., sandwiching the ACC quarterfinal games. The Saturday show will air from 9-11 a.m.

Listeners may call the ``Line'' at 1-800-887-1059.

by CNB