ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS
It was time for a change Thursday night in Bridgewater, but nothing changed.
Roanoke College, a loser of four straight, fell to Bridgewater, a winner of four straight, 83-72. Guard Scott Powers made seven of his 12 shots for a game-high 24 points as the Eagles basically shot their way past the Maroons. Bridgewater shot 52.8 percent for the game, while Roanoke made 36.8 percent - 25.8 in the first half.
``The story of the game was our first half shooting,'' said Maroons coach Page Moir.
In truth, a few things did change with Roanoke's latest loss. For the first time this season, the Maroons are out of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference lead. Roanoke (14-5 overall, 9-4 conference) is in third, a half-game behind Bridgewater (16-4, 10-4) and Virginia Wesleyan.
It also was the first time a Page Moir-coached Roanoke team amassed a four-game losing streak. ``I'm pretty sure we just set a record,'' the eighth-year coach said.
Eagles forward Brad Harrington added 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and center Chad Sowers added 15 on 7-of-8 accuracy. Roanoke got a career-high 20 points from forward Michael Ball, but the fact he was 8-of-10 from the field offered greater evidence of the rest of the Maroons' shooting woes. Roanoke was 6-of-27 from 3-point range.
In other games Thursday:
No.20 North Carolina 90, Florida State 62: Antawn Jamison broke out of his slump against the Seminoles in a big way, scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds as the Tar Heels rolled over Florida State in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Jamison had plenty of help from freshman point guard Ed Cota, who matched his career high with 14 points, while dishing out 10 assists with one turnover.
Shammond Williams added 18 points as the victory by the Tar Heels (14-6, 4-5) kept alive hopes of a 33rd consecutive season of at least a third-place finish in the ACC.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles (12-7, 3-7) further damaged their NCAA Tournament chances with games still left on the schedule against top-10 opponents Maryland, Duke, Clemson and Wake Forest. James Collins led Florida State with 21 points.
No.3 Kentucky 82, Western Carolina 55: Scott Padgett scored a career-high 23 points, including seven during a 19-2 spurt that sparked the Wildcats to a victory over the Catamounts (10-11).
Kentucky (21-3), coming off an 84-79 overtime loss at No.19 South Carolina on Tuesday night, turned up the defensive pressure in scoring 31 points off Western Carolina's 21 turnovers.
No.9 New Mexico 75, SMU 72: Charles Smith scored 22 points and Lamont Long hit two clinching free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining as the Lobos held off the Mustangs in a Western Athletic Conference game in Dallas.
St.Louis 64, No.11 Louisville 62: Jeff Harris had 19 points, including the winning layup with 7.7 seconds left, and the Billikens upset the Cardinals in Louisville, Ky. St.Louis (8-13, 2-6 Conference USA) had lost 20 straight times to Louisville (18-4, 5-2).
No.12 Cincinnati 65, No.21 Tulsa 64: Danny Fortson, fresh off a one-game suspension, scored 34 points and made a layup with less than a second to play as the Bearcats edged the Green Wave in Cincinnati.
Fortson took a full-court inbound pass from Bobby Brannen, drove down the right side of the key and scored with two-tenths of a second left for a 65-63 lead. The basket gave Cincinnati (16-4, 5-1 Conference USA) its first victory over a ranked team this season.
Several Cincinnati players piled up under the basket after the shot, and the Bearcats were called for a technical foul. But Tulane (16-6, 7-1) wasted its chance when Jerald Honeycutt missed the first of two free throws.
Wisconsin 58, No.13 Michigan 53: In Madison, Wis., Paul Grant scored 19 points, including a key basket in the final minute, to lead the Badgers past the Wolverines.
Michigan lost its leading scorer, Maurice Taylor, with 12:45 left in the first half when he was hit in the face by an elbow from Grant. Taylor crumpled to the floor and was taken to the locker room with an apparent broken nose. He did not return to the game.
Rice 75, No.22 Tulsa 58: In Houston, Bobby Crawford scored a career-high 29 points, including a school-record eight 3-pointers, to lead Rice to an upset of the Golden Hurricane.
Crawford connected on eight of 14 3-point shots as Rice (11-8, 5-4 Western Athletic Conference) got its first victory over a ranked opponent in 13 months.
Massachusetts 73, Duquesne 71: Carmelo Travieso's 3-point basket with 9.1 seconds to play gave the Minutemen an Atlantic 10 Conference victory over Duquesne in Amherst, Mass.
UMass had trailed 71-66 with one minute to play, but a basket by Lari Ketner and a pair from the line by Charlton Clarke enabled the Minutemen (13-10, 7-3) to cut its deficit to one.
Rhode Island 92, La Salle 61: In South Kingstown, R.I., Joshua King scored 15 points as the Rams dominated at both ends of the court to roll past La Salle in an Atlantic 10 contest.
Rhode Island (13-7, 7-3) had five players score in double figures and out-rebounded its opponent 48-29 in leading the game from start to finish. Conference scoring leader Donnie Carr of La Salle tossed in 14 points, 11 below his average, before being benched following a technical foul with 13:40 remaining.
St.Joseph's 71, Fordham 53: In Philadelphia, Terrell Myers scored 18 points, including 15 straight at one stretch in the second half, as the Hawks defeated Fordham in an Atlantic 10 game.
Dimitri Domani and Rashid Bey each had 12 points for the Hawks, who won for the seventh time in eight games.
Liberty 56, North Carolina-Greensboro 49: Erik Sorenson scored 18 points and had eight rebounds as the Flames defeated the Spartans in Greensboro, N.C.
Sorenson was also 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Marcus White added 13 points for Liberty (16-7, 6-2 Big South), and Peter Aluma had 11.
Virginia Western CC 99, Wytheville CC 80: Brian Jackson had 20 points to lead four scorers in double figures as the Blue Stars (3-4) defeated the visiting Wildcats (3-5).
Chris Mattox was next in scoring for Virginia Western, with 18 points, Matt Woolwine had 16 and Robbie Huffman 14.
Jon Ervin scored 21 points to lead Wytheville.
Women
Washington and Lee 74, Hollins 53: Ansley Miller and Amber Hinkle scored 18 points each as the Generals thumped host Hollins in an ODAC game.
Chrissy Burghardt had 16 points and Jessica Morton added 12 for W&L (7-13, 5-11). Tonya Holmes (Northside) and Amy Worley (Blacksburg) scored 13 points each for Hollins (3-14, 3-12).
Erskine 48, Longwood 47: Nikki Hall (Glenvar) scored 14 points, but the Lancers (19-2, 14-1) saw their 32-game regular-season winning winning streak in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference come to an end in Due West, S.C. Valerie Warren had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Fleet (8-13, 6-8).
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Florida State's Corey Louis (52) dunks over UNC'sby CNBSerge Zwikker in one of the few positive plays for the Seminoles in
their 90-62 loss Thursday in Chapel Hill, N.C.