ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
They weren't chanting ``DEFENSE'' on Thursday night at the Bast Center.
They weren't exactly playing it, either.
On Leap Year Day, an NCAA Tournament opener produced one of those games seen in Division III basketball about once every four years - if you're lucky.
Roanoke College not only set a school scoring record, but also established the NCAA Division III Tournament scoreboard high in an astounding 128-110 victory over Shenandoah.
It didn't take long for the packed house to figure what sort of game this would be. In less than three minutes, the teams combined for 30 points.
If the Division III Final Four in two weekends at the Salem Civic Center is anything like this one - and with Wheaton (Ill.) beating Grinnell (Iowa) 131-117 later Thursday night and Rowan scoring 130 in a victory over York (N.Y.) to erase Roanoke's records, that certainly seems possible - no one will be asking arena manager Carey Harveycutter when he's going to bring in an NBA exhibition game.
Shenandoah entered the game averaging 92 points per game, ranking fifth in Division III. The Hornets reached that number with seven minutes to play - and trailed by 17.
``If someone had told me before the game that we'd have 94 points with 10 minutes to go, I'd have kissed the floor,'' said Page Moir, the Maroons' coach.
The game was played at the Hornets' desired pace, and so was the defense. Roanoke (23-4), which won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament with three victories by a total of eight points, hadn't seen such sieve-like defense all season.
``We got so many easy shots, and our style is somewhat uptempo, too,'' Moir said. ``We maybe didn't want to play quite as fast as we did, but I didn't want us to play non-aggressive, either.''
The Maroons helped spread the Hornets, too. Roanoke made 11 3-point goals in the first half. There were so many bombs hit, the game should have been played at Municipal Field.
Still, Roanoke couldn't put away the Hornets (18-9) until the final five minutes. Shenandoah killed itself with silly fouls in the final two minutes of the first half, when Roanoke built what had been a seven-point lead to 68-51.
The Maroons eclipsed the school mark of 127 points against Bridgewater in 1969. They nearly reached two school standards at the stripe, too, hitting 41 of 56 free throws, including Jason Bishop's 16-for-20 for half of his career-high 32 points.
In the 21-year history of the Division III tournament, the scoring record had been 124 by Centre (Ky.) in a one-point victory over Cal State-Stanislaus in 1989 - and it took two overtimes to reach that total.
The Maroons topped that mark with 1:17 to play on a Nathan Hungate hoop. They also overcame what had been a frustrating obstacle. It was Roanoke's first victory in an NCAA opening-round game in in its past six appearances.
The Maroons' last first-round success came in 1984, when Moir was finishing his senior season as a backup guard at Virginia Tech. Hendrix (Ark.) visits the Bast Center on Saturday night for another date with the unknown, but likely another high-scoring one.
That's part of the charm of the Division III championship. The opponent often is a mystery. There's no TV like in Division I, and not much out-of-league play, even within regions.
The Maroons, with 11 consecutive victories and tied for ninth in the national coaches' poll, keep raising expectations with the Final Four in their back yard.
A victory Saturday will keep Roanoke home through the ``Sweet Sixteen'' sectionals next week. The Maroons know they are toting more than their own hopes on the streets of Salem.
If the seeds in the tournament brackets hold up, Roanoke will be playing once-beaten Wheaton (Ill.), ranked second nationally, next weekend at the Bast Center for a Final Four berth.
If that doesn't seem likely, neither does scoring 128 points - or more.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB