ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702250071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
After going into the locker room at halftime trailing Lynchburg, the Bridgewater men's basketball team might as well have not come out to play the second half.
And in a sense, it didn't.
Lynchburg became the first No.7 seed to reach the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament championship with an 88-73 victory Sunday over the third-seeded Eagles. Lynchburg faces Hampden-Sydney at 7 tonight for the ODAC title.
At halftime of Sunday's game, the Hornets led Bridgewater 34-29. They are 12-0 this season when they lead at halftime.
``We take that into consideration,'' said Otis Tucker III, Lynchburg's first team all-ODAC forward.
Bridgewater looked like it knew the deal, too. The bigger Eagles were out-everythinged before halftime, and other than forward Jason Jones (31 points, 16 rebounds), they were worse in the second half.
``We did things tonight we hadn't done all year and they weren't good,'' said Bridgewater coach Bill Leatherman. ``I have no explanation how or why.''
Members of the Lynchburg camp said they wanted it more than the Eagles, and the Bridgewater players probably would agree. Jones said his teammates thought they ``didn't have to give 100 percent to win this game.''
From the look on Hornets coach Joe Davis' face, he didn't think his team could give any more than they did. For the second day in a row, Davis walked off the Salem Civic Center court with damp eyes. As a longtime high school and college coach in the Roanoke and New River valleys, Davis has won many games at the building. He said the past two have made him as proud as any of the others.
``Coach pointed out the conference was up for grabs,'' said Hornets guard Rodney Early, a Rockbridge County High School graduate. ``We pulled together and went out as hard as we can play.''
Tucker led Lynchburg with 19 points and 15 rebounds. His 17th point of the game moved him into second place on the Hornets' all-time scoring list. Early and Mike Preston added 17 apiece for Lynchburg, which kept its halftime fix going by shooting 61.3 percent from the field in the second half.
NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB