ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702250056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
If Virginia is lucky, it may never have to face Tim Duncan again.
As far as the Cavaliers are concerned, it hasn't been a pleasant relationship.
Duncan gave the UVa basketball fans something to remember him by - his first ``20-20'' game of the season - as Wake Forest held off the Cavaliers 66-60 on Saturday at University Hall.
That made the Deacons' record against UVa during the Duncan era 8-2, including eight victories in the past nine games. Wake coach Dave Odom is 13-7 against the Cavaliers, although he bristled at the suggestion he ``owns'' Virginia.
``That's not true,'' said Odom, a UVa assistant coach from 1982-89. ``Eight out of nine may be true, [but] we haven't owned 'em. Owning them is like you have no problem with them. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not.''
Fourth-ranked Wake (21-4 overall, 10-4 ACC) took an early 11-point lead, but the outcome wasn't decided until the final minute. It was a 62-60 game before the Deacons hit a pair of one-and-ones in the last 15.1 seconds.
Virginia's only lead of the second half came when Curtis Staples made two free throws with 4:14 remaining. That set up the Cavaliers (16-11, 6-9) for their seventh loss of the season in games they have led in the second half.
Not surprisingly, Duncan was in the middle of the Deacons' decisive sequence. Wake came out of a timeout with 3:51 left and, with 12 seconds left on the shot clock, fed its All-America center. Duncan hit a hook shot over UVa freshman Colin Ducharme; then, on the Deacons' next possession, Duncan sensed a Cavaliers double-team and passed to Ricardo Peral coming down the lane for a dunk.
``I haven't played against a guy who can get position as well as Duncan,'' Ducharme said. ``He can sense you relaxing when the ball is on the other side of the court. He can beat you before he even gets the ball.
``You can never relax. You can play him tough and he'll still get his 20. No matter how you play him, Tim's going to get the ball and take a lot of shots. He came up big down the stretch.''
Duncan finished with 21 points and matched his career high with 23 rebounds. It was the eighth 20-rebound game of his career, including three this season, and his third ``20-20'' game.
``They always bang,'' said Duncan, apparently referring to all defenses, although the question was asked specifically about Virginia. ``That's the new thing. Everybody wants to beat the [expletive] out of me.''
Wake's only other double-figure scorer was Jerry Braswell, with 14 points, including eight in the first seven minutes. Peral, coming off the bench after losing his starting job because of ineffective play, finished with nine.
Virginia had four scorers in double figures, including Ducharme, who had 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks. However, the Cavaliers, who shot 32.8 percent from the field, could find no consistent source of scoring.
Junior forward Norman Nolan had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his team-high fifth double-double of the season, but he missed his last five field-goal attempts, including a jumper from the lane with 25 seconds left and UVa trailing 62-60.
``It's all about knowing how to win games,'' said senior Harold Deane, the Cavaliers' point guard. ``When it comes down to it, it seems like I don't have the toughness to come up with the ball and come up with some defensive stops.''
Actually, it was Deane's steal and layup with 1:07 left that gave Virginia second life after he had stepped out of bounds for a turnover. What he couldn't do was make a shot; he was 0-for-6 from 3-point range and has two field goals in the past two games.
``If we did get a surge of momentum, they came back at us every time,'' said UVa's Courtney Alexander. ``It hurts, because I believe we're a good team. We just keep having these tough losses to top-ranked teams.''
It was UVa's fifth loss in the past six games, four to teams ranked in the top 20 and three to top-10 opponents. The Cavaliers meet Virginia Tech on Tuesday night in Richmond before ending the regular season at home March 2 against Maryland.
``To lose the way we did today is discouraging,'' said Jeff Jones, UVa's coach. ``It's not the end of the world, but if these last two games weren't must-win games before, they are now.'' NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Wake Forest's Tim Duncan hurdles Virginia's Chaseby CNBMetheney on Saturday in Charlottesville. Duncan had little trouble
with the Cavaliers, scoring 21 points and grabbing 23 rebounds.