Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503140053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
He missed, something guard Randolph Childress and the rest of the Demon Deacons didn't do much of the rest of the afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum against Duke.
Top-seeded Wake soon erased what would become an 18-point deficit and rolled into today's semifinal date with Virginia, ripping Duke 87-70.
With the ninth-seeded Blue Devils (13-18) leading 31-13, and 8:33 remaining in the first half, Odom called a timeout. From that point, Wake (22-5) awakened.
``We were embarrassed,'' Odom said. ``Duke was on fire, literally on fire. Our defense was as soft as tissue paper. Our offense was as soft as tissue paper.''
So was Childress' jump shot from that point. Wake scored the next 15 points and 21 of the next 26. Included were four 3-pointers from the Deacons' senior guard, who finished with 40 points.
By halftime, Wake led 46-45, and Childress had managed to go Junior Burrough one better. After Burrough scored 26 points in the second half to spark UVa's victory over Georgia Tech, Childress poured in 27 in the first half to push Wake into the lead.
Longtime ACC observers couldn't recall back-to-back individual halves like those two. And from its 31-13 deficit, the Deacons outscored Duke by 35 points.
``It wasn't what I said during that timeout,'' said Odom after the Deacons had won for only the second time in their last 10 ACC tournament games. ``What made a difference is how the team felt about itself, particularly Randolph.''
Childress had to feel wonderful after Wake had advanced to today's 1:30 p.m. semifinal. He finished with 13-of-18 shooting, including an ACC tournament-record eight 3-pointers (in 12 tries).
There are only four higher-scoring individual games in the event's 42-year history. The record is Lennie Rosenbluth's 45 points for North Carolina in a 1957 first-round victory over Clemson.
Wake's 16 3-pointers were a single-game team record, too. Childress didn't just score. He had nine assists, six rebounds and four steals.
``It's his world,'' Odom said of Childress. ``I just live in it.''
Childress said ``being down 31-13 was just embarrassing. Duke was more aggressive. We pride ourselves on being the best defensive team in the league, and we weren't getting it done.''
``By halftime, we just wanted to get [the deficit] down to less than 10. We were fortunate to go up by one.''
The Blue Devils burned Wake over and over in the first 10 minutes, with inside towers Cherokee Parks and Erik Meek getting easy scores around often-intimidating Tim Duncan, the object of Odom's ire when he tried to boot the ball.
by CNB