ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 4, 1997 basketball TAG: 9703040066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
HE'S A POPULAR GUY, judging by the people he attracts on and off the court. Still, Ace Custis' last stand has been painful.
Most of the largest crowd of the season had long vacated Cassell Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
While many of his teammates on the Virginia Tech men's basketball team already had hit the road, Ace Custis was still standing in the hallway an hour afer the Hokies' loss to Xavier.
Fittingly, Custis was surrounded. Except this time, nobody was 6-foot-8, 240 pounds.
``Can I have your autograph, Mr. Custis?'' a blond-haired tyke sheepishly asked.
Despite the pain of a nagging shoulder injury and another tough loss, the 6-7 Tech star peered down at the frightened kid and smiled.
``Step right over here my boy and I'll take care of you,'' Custis said.
Ten seconds later, the kid had his coveted prize. He walked away, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
``That's Ace for you,'' said Bill Foster, Hokies coach. ``You won't ever find a more caring guy. He always has time for people. He can't say no to anybody. He's always taking care of somebody.''
Of course, that's nothing new for Adrian Llewellyn ``Now You Know Why I Go By Ace'' Custis. He has been the primary caretaker for Tech's program since 1993. Thanks primarily to Custis, the Hokies are no longer the Jokies.
``We'd never gotten this thing turned around without him,'' Foster said. ``A lot of other guys were contributors in that run, but he's kind of the focal guy. He'd never tell you that, but that's the truth.''
That's Ace Custis in a nutshell. He's the rare hoss who doesn't care to be boss.
``I've seen a lot of players in my 30 years,'' said Foster, ``but I don't know if I've ever seen a more unselfish player than Ace. We have to tell him to shoot the ball more he'd much rather make a good pass.''
``He doesn't want to be the guy. There's no way he could take all the shots Donnie Carr [La Salle's hotshot freshman guard] takes. You couldn't get a gun and make him shoot that much. All he wants to do is win. And when we don't win, it hurts and he kind of feels responsible.''
For that reason, it's been a tough senior year for Custis. After playing on 18-10, 25-10 and 23-6 clubs the past three seasons, Tech's 14-15 record entering Wednesday's Atlantic 10 tournament sticks in nobody's craw worse than Custis'.
``All of us expected things to be a little better than they've turned out this year,'' Custis said. ``You don't want to go out your senior year like I am right now. I haven't been playing well recently, and I feel like I've hurt the team.''
Typical Ace. No passing the buck with this guy. Deserving or not, he takes the heat for Tech's season gone wrong.
``Right now he feels like he has let the world down,'' Foster said. ``He shouldn't, though. Just look at the film.''
The video shows Custis playing in a crowd every night. And we're not talking about kids asking for autographs here.
With guys like Shawn Smith and Damon Watlington no longer around, Tech opponents have ganged up on the Ace Man this season.
``I don't blame teams for doing it,'' Foster said. ``I'd do the same thing. Last year, nobody could afford to double him because he was laying it off to `Smitty' and `Wat'. It has to be frustrating for him.''
In his typical fashion, Custis has done his best to hide it. Much like he has tried to camouflage the fact he has played the past five weeks with bruised nerves, first in his left shoulder, then his right.
After averaging 16.7 points in Tech's first 21 games, Custis has averaged roughly half that in the Hokies' past eight games, scoring a total of 70 points.
Custis, a 49-percent shooter the first 21 games, has hit just 28 of 78 shots (36.9 percent) the past eight games. In a horrid four-game stretch from Jan.15-23, Custis scored six, six, three and seven points.
``He's hurtin' big time,'' Foster said. ``At times you could hold his arm down with one hand and he couldn't raise it up. We got so concerned we had an MRI done last week. The only thing that's going to help it is some time off.''
Not now, though. Not with work left to be done, Custis said.
``It's really affected my game and it's hurting me, but I have no choice but to try and play through it,'' Custis said.
``It's been a long year for me, both our win-loss column and my stats are down. Playing the way I'm playing right now is very upsetting.
``Now I'm not making any excuses. I wasn't going to say anything about the injury - it leaked out somehow. I didn't want people to think I was making excuses, and I'm still not making excuses.''
When the Hokies' season ends - barring an upset or two that will happen in the Atlantic 10 tournament - Custis will start thinking about life after Tech, from where he will graduate May 10.
The kid who grew up playing on a dirt court with an 111/2-foot-high rim on Virginia's Eastern Shore is hopeful of a shot at playing in the NBA.
``I just want an opportunity,'' he said. ``That's all I have asked for my whole life. I just want a chance to prove I can compete.''
Foster said Custis' pro hopes will hinge on how he performs in pre-draft workouts in Portsmouth, Chicago and Phoenix.
``I've told Ace to do everything you can now, but understand your whole future will be decided in those camps,'' Foster said.
``I've talked to a lot of people and Ace intrigues a lot of teams. They all know what kind of a kid he is. A couple of scouts have told me they'd love to have him his rookie year as their 11th, 12th guy. That's a guy they don't depend on every night, a guy with a great attitude who won't create any problems.
``First thing you know, he becomes an eight, nine or 10 guy. Probably never going to be a one-through-five guy, they say. But he's the kind of a guy who could have a nice, long career as a complementary player ... and that's really Ace.''
Custis said he will do anything to play in the NBA.
``I wouldn't complain about minutes or shot attempts,'' he said. ``I'll carry the suitcases in the airport if that's what they want.''
And if anybody wants an autograph?
``Believe me,'' said Custis. ``I'll sign 'em all day long.''
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM STAFF. Ace Custis has had a fine Virginiaby CNBTech career, but it may take a solid showing in pre-draft camps for
him to land an NBA job. color.