Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511210038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But one minute into Saturday night's Roanoke-Elizabethtown men's basketball game, there appeared to be a malfunction.
It showed Roanoke trailing in its season opener 4-0.
No mistake. The Maroons, who perennially do well in the Salem Bank & Trust Tip Off tournament - they've won it eight times in 11 years - overcame an early deficit to clobber its opposition 95-69.
Roanoke faces Oglethorpe for the championship today at 3 p.m., following the consolation game between Elizabethtown and Ferrum.
After spotting the Blue Jays two baskets, the Maroons ran off 11 unanswered points in a four-minute span. They held leads of 30-13 and 43-23 before junior transfer Jon Maher connected on a 25-footer at the buzzer to give Roanoke a 53-30 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, Roanoke coach Page Moir played the bench extensively, and still the Maroons widened the margin to as much as 33 points.
``We played very hard,'' Moir said, ``although it got somewhat sloppy in the second half. There were some first-game jitters for both teams, as there were a lot of young, untested faces out there.
``Elizabethtown is better than they played tonight, but I thought the difference was that we contested virtually every shot of theirs in the first half. We ran the floor pretty well, and got some easy baskets.''
Jason Bishop and Courtney Fitch led the Maroons with 16 points each, and Maher and Dewayne Bullock each had 12.
Elizabethtown guards Ryan Billet and Andy Burkholder were the only Blue Jays to reach double figures with 10 points apiece.
Roanoke shot better from the field (54 percent to 40 percent), held a 43-36 rebounding edge, and attempted 23 more free throws than Elizabethtown, which was 11-13 last season.
Moir watched most of the Oglethorpe-Ferrum game, and recognized that a win today against the Georgia school will not be automatic.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB