ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601110104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
If the Atlantic 10 Conference didn't know about Ace Custis, it does now.
Introducing himself to his new league in unforgettable fashion, the junior forward scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds Wednesday night to spark No.15 Virginia Tech to an 88-69 victory over Duquesne at the Palumbo Center.
Thanks to Custis and a huge second-half contribution from backup point guard Troy Manns, the Hokies were a hit in their A-10 debut. Tech's fifth consecutive victory pushed its record to 8-1 overall. Duquense is 0-2 in the A-10 and 5-6 overall.
Tech's Ace simply was too much for Duquesne's short deck. The 6-foot-7, 215-pound junior did everything but drive the Hokies' bus back to the hotel. In addition to his double-double, Custis had six assists, two blocks and two steals. His eight offensive rebounds were only one fewer than the entire Duquesne team.
``Ace had a monster game,'' said Bill Foster, Tech's coach. ``His stats were just unbelievable.''
Custis had 20 points and 19 rebounds in January 1995 in a Tech victory at Southern Mississippi. But Foster wouldn't have traded this effort for that one.
``I think this one was about as big as he's had because nobody else was getting much done,'' Foster said. ``If Ace hadn't gotten any rebounds in the first half, we'd have been in big trouble because the rest of us got one more than a dead man. He got everything else.''
Custis said he wasn't on a special mission in his first night on the A-10 stage.
``I just wanted those 17 rebounds,'' he said. ``I had told Quinton Nottingham [Tech's radio color man] before the game I was going to do it, and he was like, `No, you're not.' Well, now I can talk trash to him.''
Duquesne, which had failed to shoot better than 47.8 percent in its first 10 games, came out on fire, torching the Hokies' defense while hitting 10 of its first 13 shots to take a 28-23 lead in the first 121/2 minutes.
But Duquesne went nearly six minutes without scoring. Meanwhile, the Hokies ran off 10 points to take a 33-28 lead.
Behind Custis and Manns, who was subbing for foul-plagued starter Damon Watlington, Tech opened its lead to as many as 11 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Manns, a former standout at Patrick Henry High School, hit four 3-pointers in the second half en route to a season-high 15 points in 28 minutes.
The pesky Dukes cut their deficit to three points - 64-61 with 7:27 left - but two Custis free throws, a Travis Jackson 3-pointer and Manns' breakaway hesitation layup put Tech out of harm's way.
``I had been in a shooting slump, but Coach [Scott] Davis worked with me some in the shoot-around earlier in the day and it seemed to help,'' Manns said, referring to the Hokies assistant.
``It feels really nice to come in and contribute. I knew I was a better ballplayer than I've shown so far this season. This should help my confidence.''
Tech, which entertains La Salle (3-9, 0-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cassell Coliseum, got 17 points from Shawn Smith and 11 from Jim Jackson.
The Hokies outshot Duquesne 50.8 percent to 47.4. Thanks to Custis, the Tech took the rebounding battle 36-31.
Mike James paced the Dukes with 19 points.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB