ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 3, 1997 TAG: 9703040020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Emotion can't beat talent. Not most times. Not this time.
Hoping to send coach Bill Foster out a winner in his final regular-season home game, a stoked Virginia Tech men's basketball team thought it had all the angles covered Sunday.
``Coach Foster's last home game, the seniors' last game at Cassell, a big crowd. Yeah, we thought we had everything in place to win this game,'' said Hokies point guard Troy Manns.
Oops, just one minor oversight. Somebody forgot to inform Xavier.
Proving why they're the nation's 14th-ranked club, the Musketeers absorbed an early, emotion-charged haymaker from Tech, built a big lead, then weathered a late Hokies flurry to escape Cassell Coliseum with an 81-72 victory.
The loss in front of a season-high crowd of 8,233 fans dropped Tech to 14-15 overall and 7-9 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The Hokies, the No. 3 seed in the A-10 West Division, will face Fordham (6-20, 1-15), the No. 6 seed in the East, at noon in Wednesday's first round of the A-10 tournament in Philadelphia.
The survivor - Tech will be a heavy favorite - will meet East No. 2 Rhode Island (18-8, 12-4) in Thursday's 2 p.m. quarterfinal.
The Hokies' hopes of heading north on a positive note were ``X-ed'' out by the A-10's best club. Xavier (22-4, 13-3) simply had too much for Tech, which was bolstered by a career-high 30-point effort by Manns.
``We really wanted to win this game for Coach Foster,'' Manns said. ``I made a conscious effort to come out and give it all I had.''
That was plenty. The Roanoke native hit 11 of 15 shots (including two of three from 3-point range) in obliterating his previous Tech high of 16 points, set Feb.18 against Temple.
``That's the most points I've ever scored anywhere,'' Manns said. ``I had 24 at George Mason [against James Madison four years ago] and 19 in high school one time.''
Woody Deans, who coached Manns at Roanoke's Patrick Henry High School, was one of Sunday's witnesses.
``That's the best game I've ever seen Troy Manns play,'' Deans said.
Still, it wasn't enough for Tech.
``It would have been a lot better if we had won,'' Manns said. ``Scoring points doesn't matter. If I'd had two and we'd won, I'd be a lot happier now.''
Manns single-handedly spearheaded a frantic run in the final three minutes that gave Tech a chance. With Xavier leading 75-63, Manns hit three consecutive jumpers, including a 3-pointer, in a span of 35 seconds that cut the Hokies' deficit to five.
After Xavier's T.J. Johnson was called for a walk, Tech had a shot to get closer. But Ace Custis, smothered inside, missed a close-range shot.
Tech got another reprieve when Xavier's Torraye Braggs blew an unopposed dunk, and Manns took things into his own hands. He missed a 15-footer, but chased down the rebound. He attempted to hit an open Custis in the left corner, but his pass soared out of bounds.
With Tech down 77-70 after Gary Lumpkin's two free throws with 40 seconds left, Manns tried again. He drove the lane, was surrounded by a horde of defenders and gave up the ball.
Two more free throws by Lumpkin with 22.8 left iced Xavier's sixth consecutive victory.
``I thought we could win it, I really did,'' Manns said. ``My shot was falling and I was feeling kind of hot. If I'd made that shot [when Tech trailed 75-70] who knows what would have happened.''
Foster, who was given a golf cart by Tech officials in a stirring pregame retirement ceremony, would have liked to have had a Mulligan possession or two late in the game.
``We did what we needed to do to get into position to win, but we couldn't get over the hump,'' Foster said. ``If we can knock one down when we're down five, it's a one-possession game.''
``But I can't say anything bad about my guys. They played their hearts out.''
Tech made six of its first eight shots and led 18-10 six minutes into the game.
But the Musketeers didn't get to No.14 in the country by backing down. Xavier, getting one easy hoop after another down low, outscored Tech 33-19 to take a 43-37 halftime lead.
Guard Lenny Brown paced Xavier with 20 points, 14 coming in the second half. Lumpkin, Brown's backcourt sidekick, finished with 17. Braggs, who had 13 in the first half, also scored 17. Johnson added 13.
``They've just got so many guys they can throw at you,'' Foster said. ``And besides Troy, who had a great game, we had trouble finding anybody who could score. Ace is hurt [bruised right shoulder] and is struggling to score. And with everybody else it's pretty much feast or famine.''
Custis and Keefe Matthews had 12 points each. Freshman Brendan Dunlop had 11 points for Tech, which got no scoring off the bench.
``It would have been nice to have won,'' Manns said. ``But it's not over yet. Hopefully, some good things can happen for us yet.''
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM STAFF. 1. Tech coach Bill Foster and his wife,by CNBLinda, received an emotional welcome from the crowd at Cassell
Coliseum. 2. Jim Jackson (top) of Virginia Tech flips the ball into
the air after tying up a Xavier player in the first half Sunday in
Blacksburg.