ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
Somebody wasn't telling the truth Tuesday night at University Hall.
In a controversial finish that left Virginia players and coaches fuming and officials dodging a barrage of plastic cups, sixth-ranked Duke defeated Virginia 62-61 on a pair of free throws by Steve Wojciechowski with 0.7 seconds remaining.
Although the officials looked at television replays to determine how much time to put on the clock, the chief point of contention was a series of events that started with five seconds left, when UVa's Norman Nolan was fouled in the act of shooting.
As Nolan was preparing for the first of two free-throw attempts, UVa coach Jeff Jones sent freshman Willie Dersch to the scorer's table. It's a common move that allows a team to set its defense following a made free throw.
Nolan made the second of two free-throw tries, putting the Cavaliers ahead 61-60, but none of the officials blew his whistle to stop play. Duke inbounded the ball to Wojciechowski, who drove the length of the floor before he was fouled by Nolan.
``We didn't see a sub there,'' referee Rick Hartzell told Virginia sports information director Rich Murray. ``We didn't hear a horn.''
Jones said he couldn't hear the horn, either, but he was adamant that Hartzell had spoken to Dersch only moments earlier.
``He had to know I was there because he signaled me in first and I said, `No, no, no, I'm going in for the shooter,''' Dersch said. ``You couldn't hear the horn because Norman had hit the foul shot and everyone was going crazy. But when I looked up at the basket, the red light was on.''
Television replays clearly showed the red light illuminated. That is a sign to officials that the horn has sounded and that play should stop.
``I shouldn't talk for Jeff,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, ``but I would be most upset that my kid didn't get in. If I'm in Jeff's shoes, that's a tough thing to swallow. He tries to use good strategy and he's not allowed to use it because of a mistake.''
After Wojciechowski was fouled, Jones quickly got the attention of official Tim Higgins and pleaded for the officials to send Duke back to the baseline and put five seconds back on the clock.
``You can't do that,'' Krzyzewski said. ``That's not a correctable error. You can only do correctable errors.''
Fred Barakat, the supervisor of ACC officials, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
When there was no restart, the issue was how much time to put on the clock. Replays showed that Wojciechowski was past midcourt before the clock was started and Jones felt that time may have expired by the time the foul had occurred.
As it turned out, that debate cost the Cavaliers. The officials took a look at the replay and, with a hand-held stopwatch, determined that 4.3 seconds had elapsed. That left Virginia with 0.7 seconds, instead of the 2.2 that originally were showing.
``I told 'em, `If they do it, Virginia's going to be messed over,''' Krzyzewski said. ``It's not going to be 2.2. It's going to be .5 or .7. Then, we win. We basically win.''
Said Jones: ``As you're watching it live, I felt there was a strong argument that the foul never would have occurred. And, I think it's still debatable because of how close it was on the stopwatch.''
Jones had put considerable emphasis on the Duke game, particularly after lackluster UVa losses on the road to Georgia Tech (66-53) and North Carolina (81-57). Also, the Cavaliers probably need three more victories to make the NCAA Tournament and only 21/2 weeks remain in the regular season.
``It's by far our toughest loss,'' UVa sophomore Courtney Alexander said. ``I think a win really would have erased the two previous losses, not because Duke is an upper-echelon team or because Duke is ranked sixth in the country, but just for our well-being and our confidence.''
The Cavaliers, who had won 10 consecutive home games, dropped to 15-9 overall and 5-7 in the ACC. It was the ninth victory in 10 games for streaking Duke (20-5, 9-3).
``Heckuva win for us,'' Krzyzewski said. ``Difficult loss for them. Again, I empathize with [UVa]. For some reason, there was a mistake. I'm sorry [but] we didn't do that. We're not in Cameron.''
The reference was to Duke's home court, Cameron Indoor Stadium. Remarkably, on a night when University Hall provided the kind of atmosphere the Cavaliers have long coveted, crowd noise may have been a negative.
``I feel badly for our players,'' Jones said. ``No one hurt more than they did after the Thursday-Saturday losses. They were banged up, there was an awful lot of pressure on them and they found a way against a very, very good Duke team to win a basketball game and it was taken away.
``It's a shame the way the game ended. It's hard to say anything to them that justifies what happened.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 linesby CNB