ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180129
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro dition.
Salem is titletown again. Despite a damaging detour, Roanoke College arrived at its desired destination Monday night.
Taking "Senior Night'' literally at the Bast Center, the six fourth-year Maroon men combined for every Roanoke first-half field goal in an 90-60 ripping of Guilford.
Roanoke finished the regular season as expected - despite a five-game losing streak that began less than three weeks ago - with the Old Dominion Athletic Conference regular-season championship and the top seed in the league tournament.
The Maroons (18-6 overall, 13-5 ODAC) clinched with the victory and help from Eastern Mennonite, which upset host Virginia Wesleyan 92-79 Monday, dropping the Marlins from a first-place tie.
Roanoke takes a four-game winning streak against eighth-seeded EMU in the ODAC quarterfinal opener Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center. The Maroons have 34- and 20-point victories over the Royals (9-14, 7-10, with one game remaining) this season.
"We learned a lesson when we were losing,'' said Roanoke senior forward Jon Maher, who joined five other Moir recruits last season as a transfer from Johns Hopkins. "We're lucky we had a second chance at the regular-season title. If we play like we have the last few, we're capable of accomplishing what we wanted.''
The Quakers (6-18, 3-15) were going nowhere, finishing their eighth straight losing season marooned in ninth place, ahead of only Washington and Lee in a league that sends its top eight to the postseason.
Guilford started by scoring on only three of its first 11 possessions, then finished the first half trailing 49-26 when the Maroons went on a 16-0 burst before Tim Wooten got the final bucket of the half for the Quakers.
Of Roanoke's first-half points, only two free throws by Michael Ball came from the underclassmen. From his regular starting lineup, Moir replaced junior guard Nathan Hungate with senior Courtney Fitch.
The prolific production by the seniors - center Tim Braun finished with a double-double (14 points, 13 rebounds) - really shouldn't be a surprise. For the season, Jason Bishop, Kevin Sigafoes, Derek Bryant, Maher, Braun and Fitch have combined for 71 percent of the Maroons' points, 65 percent of the rebounds and 62 percent of the minutes played.
That's a prodigious pothole to fill.
"It's been a great class, and you can tell when they're on the court how much they like playing together,'' Moir said. "It's fun watching them play because they like to play.
"They're so competitive, they brought us back (from the losing streak). We're not going there quite as pretty as we wanted, but we're where we wanted to be.''
The senior class has helped the Maroons to 87 victories, three ODAC first-place finishes and two conference tournament titles entering the weekend. Roanoke also figures to get its fourth straight NCAA Division III tournament bid.
"I don't have any idea how that tram lost five in a row,'' Guilford coach Jack Jensen said. "When we played them in January they were the best team in the league, and they don't look any different now.''
ODAC OPENERS: Behind Roanoke, Virginia Wesleyan, Hampden-Sydney, Randolph-Macon and Bridgewater finished in a second-place tie in the ODAC race, all at 12-6.
In head-to-head competition among the four, Wesleyan was 5-1, Randolph-Macon and Bridgewater 3-3 and Hampden-Sydney 1-5. So, Wesleyan gets the No. 2 ODAC seed, with the Tigers at No. 5.
Bridgewater gets the third seed by virtue of its win over champion Roanoke.
Following the Roanoke-Eastern Mennonite game, Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney meet in the 3 p.m. semifinal. In the evening session at the Salem Civic Center, Virginia Wesleyan faces seventh-seeded Lynchburg at 6, followed by Bridgewater-Emory & Henry at 8.
The semifinals are scheduled Sunday at 2 and 4 p.m., with Monday's championship game at 7 p.m. The winner gets an automatic berth in the Division III South Regional bracket.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB