ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602130138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
Chris Daniels' breakthrough season was chugging along nicely.
The University of Dayton senior center finally had shrugged off a major knee injury and slews of doubters and - while preserving the gentle nature that endeared him to peers and friends - had risen to lead his team to a measure of success not recently known to the Flyers (11-10).
The 6-10, 238-pound Daniels stood second on the team in scoring (12.9 points a game) and third in rebounding (6.0). He was second in the country in field-goal shooting (67.9 percent).
Daniels missed Tuesday's game against Bethune-Cookman with a sprained ankle sustained against St.Joseph's last Saturday, but told Dayton coach Oliver Purnell that he felt ``great'' Wednesday night. That was good news for Purnell, who would need his starting center for Thursday night's scheduled Atlantic 10 game against visiting La Salle.
Then, early Thursday morning, Purnell got the tragic news.
Daniels was dead.
Daniels, 22, was having convulsions at approximately 4 a.m. in his home in a student neighborhood off the Ohio school's campus, a university official said. Paramedics responding to a 911 call took him to Dayton's Miami Valley Hospital, where he was admitted at 5:02 a.m. in full cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts failed, and he was pronounced dead at 5:31 a.m.
Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County coroner's office, said preliminary autopsy results did not reveal the cause of death.
``There was no aneurysm, no blood clot, no obvious cause of death,'' Betz said. ``Our preliminary opinion is that his death appears to be heart-related, but we will not know until additional ... testing is completed in about two weeks.''
Preliminary toxicology reports showed no signs of drugs or alcohol.
``He did have an enlarged heart,'' Betz said, ``but he had a large body to support that heart. We don't know if there was an arrhythmia or an irregular heartbeat. We will also be conducting some routine steroid testing. However, we have no information to support the use of steroids.''
Daniels' sudden death rekindled memories of the heart-related deaths of Loyola Marymount's Hank Gathers in 1990 and the Boston Celtics' Reggie Lewis in 1993. It follows the frightening collapse last month of Marcus Camby, the University of Massachusetts star center who missed nearly two weeks before returning after tests failed to produce the cause of the collapse.
After Daniels hit seven of eight shots and scored 17 points against then-No.11 Virginia Tech in the Flyers' one-point loss Jan.18, the Dayton media inferred that as Daniels goes, so go the Flyers.
In other college basketball news:
KANSAS STATE SUSPENDS COACH: Kansas State women's basketball coach Brian Agler was suspended pending an NCAA rules violation investigation, and former men's coach Jack Hartman was named as the interim replacement, the school said.
The school didn't specify the nature of the investigation and didn't say when Agler was suspended.
Hartman, the winningest basketball coach in Kansas State history with 295 victories in 16 seasons, was expected to coach the women's team Friday night against Nebraska.
FERRUM HOLDS ALUMNI GAME: Ferrum College will hold its annual men's basketball alumni game today at 2:30 p.m. at Swartz Gymnasium. The game was postponed from Feb.3. Approximately 20 former Ferrum standouts and their families are expected to attend.
Admission will be one can of non-perishable food or donation to the St.James Community Center food bank in Ferrum.
Friday's game
Liberty 65, UNC Asheville 43: Peter Aluma scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Flames ripped the Bulldogs in a Big South game in Lynchburg.
Aluma blocked four shots to become the Big South career blocked shots leader. Aluma has 245 blocked shots, eclipsing John James of Towson State, who had 244 from 1993-95.
Erik Sorensen and Mark Reed added 10 points apiece for Liberty (12-9 overall, 6-4), which shot 50 percent from the floor for the game.
Josh Kohn paced the Bulldogs (14-7, 7-3) with 14 points. UNC Asheville could muster just 33 percent field-goal shooting for the game.
Thursday's games
No.17 UCLA 73, California 65: In Oakland, Calif., J.R. Henderson had 21 points and the Bruins held the Bears scoreless for the final 3:57 as UCLA scored the final nine points for a Pac-10 victory.
Kris Johnson added 15 points and Charles O'Bannon had all 12 of his points in the first half for UCLA (16-5, 9-1). O'Bannon blocked two shots in the final minute of the game as Cal tried to rally.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 24 points and 16 rebounds for Cal (12-7, 6-4).
No.25 Stanford 99, Southern Cal 69: In Stanford, Calif., Andy Poppink scored 20 points and Dion Cross had 19 as the Cardinal (14-5, 7-3 Pac-10) routed USC (11-11, 4-6) in the Trojans' first game under interim coach Henry Bibby.
It was Stanford's biggest margin of victory in its series with Southern Cal.
Bibby was an assistant to Charlie Parker, who was fired Wednesday after going 18-31 in less than two seasons at Southern Cal.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB