Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503140048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY. LENGTH: Medium
At 1:45 Friday afternoon, the Virginia Tech faithful at the Metro Conference basketball tournament decided it was time to serenade at Freedom Hall.
Over and over, the Tech fans sang, ``We're not in the Metro ... we're not in the Metro anymore.''
Hokies backers should have added another verse to their lyrics. It could have gone, ``we're not in the NCAA Tournament ... we're not in the NCAA Tournament anymore.''
In a bad tune from the opening tap, Tech likely saw its NCAA hopes go up in smoke in an 82-66 first-round shocker to underdog Southern Mississippi.
The loss, Tech's worst of the season, couldn't have been more ill-timed. The consensus was that the Hokies (20-10) needed at least one more victory to ice an NCAA at-large bid.
``Hopefully,'' said Tech junior forward Shawn Smith, ``we can still somehow get in the NCAA. But the way it's looking now, with this loss, I really don't think we'll get in the NCAA.''
The Hokies can take sole credit for their predicament. Tech, seemingly an NCAA lock a month ago when it was 17-5, lost five of its last eight games.
``We had every opportunity in the world the last three weeks of the season to put ourselves in a position where this game didn't need to be as big as it was,'' said Bill Foster, Tech's coach.
``And we didn't get over the hump and get it done, and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get it done here today. That's tough to do sometimes.''
Especially against a Southern Miss club bent on revenge for two 15-point lickings administered by Tech in the regular season.
``Yeah,'' said Golden Eagles guard Maurice Morris, ``it's sort of nice to ruin their party."
Southern Miss (16-11) ambushed Tech with a surprise attack from long range. The Metro's worst field-goal shooting team (42.4 percent) torched the league's best field-goal percentage defense (41.1).
The Golden Eagles, long known as the gang who can't shoot straight, hit 18 of their first 27 shots in the second half to bury the stunned Hokies. Southern Miss hit 30 of 61 shots for the game (49.2 percent), including nine of 18 from 3-point range.
``They shot unbelievably in the second half,'' Foster said. ``We just couldn't get them stopped. We thought if we stopped their inside game and rebounded with them, we'd be in good shape, figuring they couldn't beat us from the perimeter.
``Well, we never figured they'd shoot it like they were in the Twilight Zone.''
After the Golden Eagles' Damien Smith drained a 3-pointer to break a 38-38 tie with 17 minutes, 11 seconds left to play, it was all Southern Miss.
Reserve forward Sam Jones hit another 3, then a 17-footer. Morris' 3 with 13:58 showing pushed USM up 51-44.
The Golden Eagles pushed the cushion to 62-48 with 9:15 left before Shawn Smith ended a two-minute Tech drought with a 15-footer.
Ensuing 3-pointers by Morris and Damien Smith, sandwiching a hoop by Tech's Ace Custis, made it 68-52 with 7:33 left.
It was over. Tech, out of rhythm offensively most of the game, never got closer than 11.
``We seemed to never really get in a good offensive flow the whole game,'' Foster said. ``We just didn't play very well. We played hard, but we didn't necessarily play smart offensively.
``Basketball is broken up into a lot of skills. But the one that's the determiner most of the time is putting the ball in the hole.''
While USM sizzled from the field, Tech fizzled. The Hokies hit 27 of 64 field-goal attempts (42.2 percent), well below its season average (48.4).
Besides Smith (10-of-17) and Custis (6-of-10), the rest of the Hokies were a combined 11-of-37 from the floor.
Tech's starting guards, Shawn Good and Damon Watlington, struggled. Good was held scoreless in the first half and finished 3-of-10 from the floor for eight points. Watlington had a season-low two field goals on six shots and only six points.
``All year long,'' Foster said, ``we've been a team that when it was playing always had four guys in double figures. We've had as many as six. Today, we only had two. They had five.''
Jones' 18 points paced five players in double figures for USM. Morris had 17, Glen Whisby 15, Damien Smith 13 and Kelly McCarty 11.
``It wasn't just one guy,'' Foster said. ``It was all of them.
``And when they shoot it like they did, it's a bear. When they shoot well, they're tough to beat because they're so athletic. Just ask Mississippi State [who USM beat 66-64 on Dec. 17] what it's like when they shoot it like that.''
by CNB