ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030103
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Matching sixth-place VMI against top seed UT-Chattanooga just 14 hours after the Keydets' overtime play-in victory over Furman seemed like an obvious recipe for a blowout.
Sure enough, the Moccasins had VMI for lunch in an 84-62 cakewalk that opened the Southern Conference tournament quarterfinals at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Chattanooga ran out to a 23-6 lead to open the game, and was never challenged in the second half by the fatigued Keydets. The Moccasins will face Davidson, an 83-61 winner over The Citadel, in a semifinal today.
``Last night's game took a lot out of us mentally and physically,'' said VMI guard Darryl Faulkner. ``Coming back for another game at noon was tough. I know it affected me a little bit."
But even if they had been completely rested, the Keydets would have been hard-pressed to stop a UTC squad at the top of its game. The Moccasins (20-10) showed the kind of balanced offensive attack that always works well in the postseason.
Guard Willie Young lit up VMI for 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting - showing off a dazzling array of one-on-one moves. Meanwhile, UTC's inside tandem of Johnny Taylor and Chris Mims muscled their way to a combined 35 points and 20 rebounds.
``I thought we did a pretty good job defending the perimeter," said Moccasins coach Mack McCarthy. ``And we dominated them on the backboards, which led to a lot of free throws [34]. Anytime you shoot 54 percent, you've done a good job."
Maurice Spencer - whose 3-pointer at the buzzer forced overtime against Furman - kept the Keydets (12-16) in the contest for a half by scoring 15 of his 24 points before intermission.
But Young, Taylor and Mims took over in the second half as UTC knocked down 57 percent of its shots to pull away for good.
``Willie is a very difficult player to guard, because he can break most players down on the dribble, and then either score or pass," said McCarthy. ``It's not a bad offense just to have the ball in his hands."
The only scare for the Moccasins - who are gunning for their fourth conference title in five years - came in the first half, when Taylor, the league's player of the year, went up for an alley-oop in traffic and fell hard on his lower back. He reassured UTC fans by returning to play well in the second half.
``I was scared at first," said Taylor. ``But once I laid there and got over the initial shock, I felt OK and was able to keep going."
The loss concludes a tumultuous season for VMI, which lost its leading scorer to academic problems and had two other key players quit the team.
``We've had everything happen to us except for the team bus breaking down," said Keydets coach Bart Bellairs. ``I'm more proud of this year's team than I am of the team last year that won 18 games.''
Bellairs also questioned the wisdom of bringing Thursday's play-in winner back for a noon game the next day.
``I know that they want to give an advantage to the No.1 seed," he said. ``But I think they may need to look at having the two play-in teams play in the 7 and 9:30 games on Friday." NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Darryl Faulkner (left) of VMI tries for a stealby CNBagainst Wes Moore of UT-Chattanooga during the first half of
Friday's game.