ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080091
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Tech's Philadelphia Story proved to be a short one.
As in one and done.
Becoming more enigmatic all the time, the Hokies were in and out of their first Atlantic 10 Conference tournament in a flash, losing 77-71 to Rhode Island in Thursday's quarterfinal round at the Philadelphia Civic Center.
The loss sent 15th-ranked Tech (22-5) home early and catapulted five-point underdog Rhode Island (18-12) into tonight's semifinal round against Temple (18-11) at 9:30. Second-ranked Massachusetts will face George Washington at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, the glum Hokies will fly home to Blacksburg today, where they will gather Sunday and learn their destination for next week's start of the NCAA Tournament.
``We're going home and regroup,'' said Bill Foster, Tech's coach. ``I think this team will bounce back and play well. We've had some of our best games all year after losses.
``Our kids don't stay down. They watch this movie and they won't like it and I won't, either. We'll learn from it and come back. There's an island in the middle of that storm somewhere and we'll find it. We're not the only ones that got upset this week.''
What upset Tech in its first A-10 postseason game was poor first-half play. The Hokies, getting virtually no production from their top three scorers - Ace Custis, Damon Watlington and Shawn Smith - trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before going to the locker room down 37-27.
Tech, which rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to win 72-66 in overtime at Rhode Island on Feb. 3, attempted to produce a rerun.
The Hokies, thanks to a 23-10 run, tied the score at 52 with 11:17 left on Troy Manns' layup. After Rhode Island pushed the lead back to six, Tech scored seven consecutive points - five by Shawn Good, who led Tech with a season-high 21 points - to take its first lead since the game's first two minutes at 59-58.
After Joshua King's two free throws with 4:58 left put the Rams up 65-64, Tech, uncharacteristically, went into a self-destruct mode.
First, Manns threw a pass at Travis Jackson's ankles, and the 6-foot-8 center couldn't handle it. On Tech's next possession, the usually sure-handed Watlington dribbled the ball off his foot and over the baseline.
After Rams freshman Antonio Reynolds blew by Custis to score and put Rhode Island up 67-64, Manns came down and missed an ill-advised 3-pointer.
``We had a chance to take the lead twice and we turned the ball over both times,'' Foster said. ``We made too many mistakes near the end to win.''
Tech still had a chance, though. But after Custis made two free throws with 1:43 left to make it 69-68 Rhode Island, the Hokies watched in dismay as the Rams ran off six points. The flurry, which included four consecutive free throws by reserve guard Preston Murphy, put Rhode Island up 75-67 and out of harm's way.
During the Rams flurry, Tech killed itself on the offensive end as Good pulled the string on a 14-footer and Custis turned over the ball after taking an inbounds pass under the basket.
``We just didn't play smart enough to get it done,'' Good said. ``We didn't play as well as we could the first half. The second half we played hard, but we didn't play smart. We're a lot smarter team than this.
``I think the run to get back in the game might have taken something out of us. But that's no excuse.''
Foster pointed at the first half. Custis, Smith and Watlington were a combined 1-for-12 from the field for three points. The trio finished a collective 5-for-22 from the floor.
``That makes things real tough for us,'' Foster said. ``We couldn't get squat from those guys.''
Watlington sprained his right ankle early in the game and was slowed the rest of the way. Tech's best outside shooter finished with a season-low three points in 27 minutes.
``I was on one leg out there most of the way,'' he said.
Tech also got only 18 minutes out of Smith, who suffered a partially separated left shoulder when he was hit by Rhode Island's David Arigbabu with 6:53 left in the first half.
``Hopefully, both Smitty and Wat will be OK for the next time,'' Foster said.
Jackson, whose nine first-half points helped keep Tech from being blown out, finished with 17 points, matching his career high.
``We're fortunate to end with just five losses and a lot of teams would kill to have those kind of numbers,'' Jackson said. ``It's just so hard to get down so much so early against a good team.
``I don't think we were ready to play. And that's a shame when it's in a conference tournament against a team who took you to overtime the other time you played them.''
Custis had 14 points, 13 in the second half, and grabbed 10 of his 11 rebounds in the final 20 minutes. Manns wound up with 12 points.
``We've come back before and we'll do it again,'' Custis said. ``The world's not over yet.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Tech's Shawn Good attempts a reverse layup in frontby CNBof Rhode Island's Antonio Reynolds. color KEYWORDS: BASKETBALL