ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602130020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
The Old Dominion Athletic Conference's top men's basketball team seemed headed for a low point Saturday night.
The final score at the Bast Center was 93-79, but it didn't look like it would be that way four minutes earlier. First-place Roanoke trailed ninth-place Washington and Lee as late as the 4:34 mark of the second half.
At that point, however, the Maroons (18-4 overall, 13-4 ODAC) started hitting free throws every time down the floor while the Generals (3-20, 3-14) missed every shot they attempted. Roanoke finished the game making 14 straight free throws while W&L missed its last 10 shots.
The Generals' last points came on a pair of Jon Coffman free throws with 5:33 left.
``That's the story of our season,'' said W&L coach Kevin Moore. ``We get to a certain point and run out of gas. You reach such a level of frustration."
For much of the game, Roanoke coach Page Moir knew the feeling. The Maroons blew an eight-point halftime lead and trailed by seven points with 7:42 left to play.
``W&L played very, very well and we were not as sharp as we need to be,'' Moir said. ``When you're at the top of the league, teams play hard against you.''
Even with the loss, W&L wasn't eliminated from the ODAC tournament, which tips off Saturday. The Generals, one game behind eighth-place Eastern Mennonite, visit the Royals on Wednesday. W&L defeated the Royals 100-79 a week ago.
If Eastern Mennonite loses to fourth-place Virginia Wesleyan on Monday and to the Generals two days later, W&L would get a tournament berth thanks to its head-to-head success against the Royals.
Randolph-Macon's game today at home against Emory & Henry could be the determining factor in whether the Maroons win the ODAC regular season outright. The Yellow Jackets are tied with Roanoke with two conference games remaining for each. If the teams finish tied, however, the Maroons get the tournament's top seed. That's because Roanoke swept Randolph-Macon in the regular season.
With its ODAC schedule completed, former league-leader Bridgewater is already out of the picture. The Eagles finished ODAC play with a 12-6 record, good for no worse than third place.
Washington and Lee started off well Saturday, making six of its first 11 shots and taking a 16-11 lead. Cam Dyer hit his first four shots and a free throw to provide nine points.
A 3-point goal by midseason addition Kevin Cobbin gave W&L its biggest lead at 22-14 a minute later, but then Derek Bryant, Roanoke's 3-point specialist, started hitting.
Bryant, a Franklin County High School graduate and the ODAC's top 3-point shooter, made his first three treys and helped the Maroons tie it at 29 with 5:38 left in the first half.
W&L then went cold, making six of its next 15 shots, while Roanoke stayed hot. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Bryant and Northside High School graduate Nathan Hungate put Roanoke up 43-36 with 2:55 to go.
Generals guard B.J. Jamison made two baseline jumpers to cut into the lead, but Bryant drilled another 3-pointer and Jon Maher made two free throws to send the Maroons to the locker room leading 48-40.
Roanoke made nine of 16 3-point attempts in the first half. Bryant was 5-of-8 and finished 6-of-13 from beyond the arc, setting a Roanoke single-game record for most 3-pointers in a game.
``He gave us a great lift,'' Moir said. ``Great shooting in the first half kept us in it.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB