ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 23, 1996 TAG: 9612230164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MORGANTOWN, W.VA.
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA TECH shows its generous holiday spirit by committing 23 turnovers in a loss at West Virginia.
A toss-up could determine who passed out more gifts Sunday at the West Virginia Coliseum.
Santa Claus? Or the Virginia Tech men's basketball team?
Playing giveaway in a game they could have stolen, the Hokies committed a season-high 23 turnovers in gift-wrapping West Virginia's 76-65 victory.
Tech, an 11-point underdog, had its shot for an upset. The Hokies faced a WVU club that played without 6-foot-11 forward Gordon Malone, who has been suspended indefinitely from the team. And the Mountaineers who were available didn't exactly resemble the bunch that won at Syracuse by 22 earlier this month.
``This was definitely a winnable game,'' said Jim Jackson, Hokies senior forward.
``It's a game we should have taken from them. I don't think this was the West Virginia team we saw in the film. We could have gotten out of here with one today, but we didn't.''
The Mountaineers (6-1) certainly weren't going to return the gift. The victory was WVU's sixth straight and broke its three-game losing streak to Tech (4-4).
``We owed those guys big time,'' said WVU junior Damien Owens of the Hokies, whose 83-73 victory here in 1994 broke a 24-game WVU home winning streak against nonconference opposition.
Tech doomed itself with shoddy ball-handling - its previous turnover high was 17 against Illinois. The Hokies handled the ball like it was a hand grenade most of the afternoon.
The Hokies also aided the hosts' cause by missing nine of 16 free-throw attempts in the second half. Most of those came during a stretch when WVU appeared to be begging to lose.
``The turnovers and not putting the free throws down killed us,'' said Jackson, who had a season-high 14 points in 30 minutes.
``We had our chances to win. We can't blame anybody but ourselves. It was another good lesson, but a hard lesson.''
After hanging close through the first half, trailing 42-38 at the break, Tech drew to 48-46 when Ace Custis hit a 12-foot jumper - his last basket of the game - with 14:06 left.
After WVU's Seldon Jefferson scored on a drive, the Mountaineers then got two straight baskets off Hokie turnovers to make it 54-46 with 11:10 left.
WVU pushed its lead to as many as 10 with 6:41 left before Tech made one more belated run, cutting its deficit to 61-56 when struggling center Keefe Matthews scored his only basket in 21 minutes.
Tech was down just 65-59 after Troy Manns' two free throws with 3:11 left, but would get no closer. Junior guard Jarrod West scored seven points to key a 9-0 WVU run during the next 1:25 that would make it a 15-point game and steer the Mountaineers out of harm's way.
WVU, which continued its best start since 1993-94, had four players score in double figures. Junior guard Adrian Pledger led the winners with 18 points, while West had 14 and Sandro Varejao and Owens contributed 12 each.
``That's a good West Virginia club, probably the best one I've seen in my six years at Tech,'' said Bill Foster, Hokies coach.
And Foster didn't even get to see Malone, whose suspension was announced before the game by WVU coach Gale Catlett. It marks the second benching of the season for the hulking forward, who also was suspended for WVU's opener at Minnesota, where it suffered its only loss.
``We didn't know about it until we walked out on the court,'' Custis said.
The Hokies flew back to Blacksburg immediately after the game and planned to go home for Christmas on Sunday night.
``I'm not even going by my apartment,'' said Custis, whose 15 points and eight rebounds led Tech. ``When we land, I'm hopping straight in my car and heading home. I need to get away from basketball for awhile.''
The Hokies return to action Jan.2, when they play host to St.Bonaventure in their Atlantic 10 opener.
The Hokies never figured on heading home for Christmas with a .500 record.
``We've lost four games,'' said Foster, ``and I think those four teams are like 23-5 and they're all pretty good teams. I think the four games we were favored in we won.
``To me, going into the year, I felt like if we could be 6-2 at the break we'd really kind of milked this thing for about everything it was worth. At 4-4, I'm a little disappointed where we are record-wise. I thought we'd beat Georgia and Colorado, two games we kind of let get away.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB