ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
A game that began with a shooting match between two Roanoke College players didn't get interesting until one Bridgewater College player butted in.
Eddie Bentley, a former Christiansburg High School guard, shot Bridgewater (ranked 16th in NCAA Division III) back into the game, but No. 8 Roanoke shut down the Eagles in the end, pulling out an 83-70 victory Wednesday night at the Bast Center
``It was almost a game of the 3-point shot,'' said Page Moir, the Maroons' coach.
Roanoke swingmen Kevin Sigafoes and Derek Bryant tried to beat the Eagles exclusively by using the 3-point shot. Sigafoes opened the game with a 3-pointer and by the 10:47 mark of the first half, he and Bryant had combined for five. Roanoke finished the game with nine.
Sigafoes was 3-of-5 from long range Monday against Eastern Mennonite, nearly upstaging Bryant, a former Franklin County forward and Roanoke's resident 3-point professor.
``He always lets me know how many he has,'' said Sigafoes, who added that he'll probably never catch up.
The pair was the main reason the Maroons (10-1 overall, 5-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) held a 39-20 lead with 5:10 left in the first half. At that point, however, the Eagles (11-2, 5-2) began to look like the team that was a preseason pick to challenge the Maroons for the ODAC title.
``They did a better job than we did executing their offense in the last eight minutes of the half,'' Moir said.
And then there were the first 10 minutes of the second half. Bentley went on a personal mission to prove to Sigafoes and Bryant that three could play their game. Bentley scored Bridgewater's first nine points of the second half on 3-pointers, and his fourth, a shot from the wing, gave the Eagles their first lead - 57-56 - since the second minute of the game.
It happened with last season's All-ODAC guard Craig Tutt sitting on the bench studying flash cards for an upcoming kinesiology exam. Tutt is redshirting after suffering a broken bone in his right foot during a preseason scrimmage.
``I had a feeling all night we'd come back,'' said Bill Leatherman, Bridgewater's coach. ``We really have that in us. But we expended a lot of energy coming back.''
By the 8:47 mark of the second half, Roanoke had the lead for good. Sigafoes and Jason Bishop (who scored a game-high 21 points) helped the Maroons pull away from there, making the victory look much more lopsided than it was.
It was Roanoke's 10th consecutive victory over the Eagles at the Bast Center, dating to the 1986-87 season, and it also was the Maroons' 15th consecutive ODAC victory.
``They play with an extra edge or cockiness,'' Bentley said. ``I think it is a cockiness.''
The Eagles had reason to be cocky, at least about their inside game, coming into the contest. Bridgewater's tall and wide front line was outrebounding its opponents by an average of 9.7 boards per game this season. Were the Maroons intimidated?
Roanoke outrebounded the Eagles 42-35, with center Tim Braun pulling down a career-high 15. Braun should have known what to do against Bridgewater. His home is a few minutes away from the Eagles' campus.
``They got second shots when they shouldn't have,'' Leatherman said. ``There were a lot of weird bounces that were sort of askew. That was as much a factor as anything.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB