ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
The Virginia Tech men's basketball team took a rare trip down Tobacco Road on Tuesday night.
As expected, the Hokies got smoked.
Burning Tech as quickly as a 10-cent cigar, second-ranked Wake Forest huffed, puffed and blew the Hokies away 61-44 in front of 14,069 fans at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
Any victory hopes Tech entertained ended when coach Bill Foster couldn't exchange his latest retirement gift - a wooden chair - for Tim Duncan, the Deacons' All-American center, before the game.
During the ceremony at midcourt, Foster jokingly grabbed Duncan's right arm and started pulling the 6-foot-10 star toward the Hokies' bench.
``He said he was going to trade his chair for me,'' Duncan said of Foster.
``Coach Foster is a good guy, but I don't think that would have worked.''
Once that deal fell through, Tech, a 20-point underdog, was out to lunch. The Hokies (10-9) tried about everything, but they simply didn't have the guns to play with the talented Deacons (16-1).
Simply put, Tech had its choice of poisons. The Hokies could play Duncan head-up and let him go wild underneath, or collapse on the big guy and make Wake's outside bombers beat them.
Tech chose plan B. And got bombed.
Time and time again, the Deacons fed the ball to Duncan. Once Tech swarmed around him inside, Duncan kicked the ball to a free man outside.
Wake hoisted 14 3-point attempts in the first 14 minutes. The Deacons hit six and led 26-10.
Duncan, averaging 20.8 points, didn't take his first shot until the 4:27 mark of the first half when he made a great catch on an outlet pass and scored on a breakaway layup.
Duncan's only other shot of the half came two possessions later, when he got loose low and scored on a short banker.
While Duncan was content with his decoy role - he finished the half with four points on two shots - Wake was getting its points from reserves such as Steven Goolsby, who launched six consecutive 3-point shots at one point, making three.
Wake finished 6-for-16 from 3-point land for the half and and led 34-20.
``There's not anyone in the country that can beat them when they're knocking down the 3 like that,'' Foster said. ``What are you going to do, play Timmy and Woods [Loren, Wake's 7-1 freshman forward] one-on-one underneath? That's a bad matchup.''
Offensively, the Hokies, like every other Wake opponent so far, had trouble finding the hoop. Tech hit nine of 24 field-goal attempts in the first half.
Things didn't change much in the final 20 minutes. Tech never got closer than the 14-point halftime differential. The Hokies trailed by as many as 52-27 with 9:56 left before rallying to make the final score somewhat respectable.
The only suspense in the second half was whether Duncan could extend his streak of consecutive double-doubles to 26. Duncan, with 12 points and eight rebounds, came back in the game with 6:08 left. He got the two rebounds he needed in 70 seconds.
``The word came from the bench and I asked Tim if he wanted to go back in and he said, 'I don't know,''' said Dave Odom, Wake's coach.
``I asked him how long it would take him to get two rebounds, and he said if they miss two straight shots, he'd get 'em. If anybody deserves a streak like that, it's Tim Duncan.''
The Hokies, held to their lowest scoring output since a 57-41 loss at Temple last season, were led by reserve point guard Brendan Dunlop's 10 points, all accumulated in the game's final 11 minutes.
Ace Custis, guarded by Duncan much of the night, was limited to nine points.
``Wake showed why they're No.2 in the country,'' Custis said. ``They've got all the weapons. They can beat you inside, they can beat you outside. I don't see anybody beating those guys for the national title.''
Foster, whose club plays host to Dayton at home Saturday, said he was pleased with what he saw despite the lopsided loss.
``We got to play the three freshmen [Dunlop, Russ Wheeler and Andre Ray] a lot and they looked good,'' Foster said. ``I liked what I saw. They can't fire me. If it's going to help the program by playing those guys more, I'll do it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Wake Forest's Tim Duncan dunks between Virginiaby CNBTech's Alvaro Tor (left) and Brendan Dunlop during the second half
of the Demon Deacons' 61-44 victory. color.