ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
INEXPERIENCE SHOWS in Virginia Tech's 66-50 victory over UNC Greensboro.
Bill Foster obviously wasn't lying when he told folks in preseason that his Virginia Tech's men's basketball team wouldn't produce many Rembrandts this season.
The Hokies' latest rendition Monday night was much like its previous art work - tainted, smudged and laced with youngsters' fingerprints.
Nevertheless, Tech's picture was prettier than UNC Greensboro's mess.
Paced by Ace Custis' 18 points and 12 points each by Jim Jackson and Myron Guillory, the Hokies downed the Spartans 66-50 in front of 4,286 fans.
"I said from Day One that it was never going to be pretty with this team,'' said Foster, still juggling to find chemistry on a young team that lost four starters off last season's 23-6 NCAA club.
"It's going to be kind of ugly, rough and ragged sometimes. But as long as they keep playing as hard as they did tonight, we're going to be OK.''
From the looks of things so far, OK just might be the best Tech can be in 1996-97.
The Hokies (4-2) hardly looked like world-beaters the past five days in handling three inferior opponents - East Tennessee State, Coastal Carolina and UNCG - at Cassell Coliseum.
For the third straight game, Tech came out slow and fell behind a team it should have buried from the opening tap. But as against ETSU and Coastal, the Hokies woke up when they had to and eventually won by a margin that looks good only to the unadvised.
"We've got a lot of work to do,'' Foster said. "Nobody ever said this deal was going to come together real quick.''
Foster has spent most of the first six games tinkering with combinations. He started his fourth lineup in six games.
Along with Custis and point guard Troy Manns, Foster paired redshirt freshman guard Andre Ray, junior forward Shawn Browne and sophomore center Alvaro Tor. Ray, of course, never had played a college minute until this season. Tor and Browne aren't exactly returning veterans. The 6-foot-10 Tor played 16 minutes last season, while the 6-6 Browne played seven.
"If somebody had told me a year ago that I'd be starting tonight with Andre Ray, Shawn Browne and Alvaro Tor,'' said Foster, "I'd had 'em checked for the mental institution.''
With small forward David Jackson out with a sprained left knee and senior center Keefe Matthews getting absolutely nothing done, Foster had no choice but order the kids' meal. Russ Wheeler was the only good item on this night, scoring eight points in 21 minutes.
After scoring in double figures in Tech's three games in Hawaii, Matthews was a combined 1-for-7 from the floor with three points and seven rebounds in 42 minutes.
"I thought he'd get eight or nine rebounds a game,'' Foster said. "He's like disappeared the last three games. I love him, but I might as well tell it like it is.''
Jim Jackson, who had been held to four or less points in three of the first five games, led the Hokies in the second half.
Jackson spurred a 17-3 run that enabled Tech to from a precarious 48-43 lead with 10:40 left to a 19-point bulge. The Spartans (2-5), whose 33-24 rebounding edge was canceled out by 23 turnovers, went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal during the stretch.
"We turned up our defense and made some things happen,'' Jackson said.
Jackson also noted that Tech had better make more things happen soon. The Hokies head into the meatier part of their their schedule, facing Georgia at Cassell on Saturday before closing out 1996 on Dec.22 at West Virginia.
"We're going to have to find a way to come out the first half and bury a team from the get-go,'' Jackson said. "If we do this against the better teams, we'll get killed.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM Staff. Tech's Ace Custis gets an uncontestedby CNBdunk while UNC Greensboro's Warren Cunningham looks on Monday night.
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