THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408150180
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ANTIBES, FRANCE LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The primary purpose of Old Dominion's trip to France is for the new coach and players to become acclimated.
It took the Monarchs only one game to discover what the coach is like when he's perturbed.
Jeff Capel screamed a little paint off the locker room walls after Old Dominion lost to Antibes in the opener of its French tour, 120-90.
It wasn't the score that upset him - Antibes was the runner-up in the best professional league in France last year and has three players with NBA experience on its roster.
It wasn't ODU's overall performance, which Capel said meshed with what he expected.
It wasn't even the 27 turnovers.
It was the little things: failure to get on the floor for a loose ball, even if there are only three seconds left in a lopsided game; teammates sniping at each other.
``There were some things that concerned me a little bit,'' Capel said. ``Bickering amongst each other, which I will not tolerate. Turning on each other when things go bad isn't the way to go.
``And I let them have it because in the last three minutes we quit. We had seven or eight turnovers in the last three minutes, and no team I ever have is going to quit.''
Senior guard Mike Jones scored 38 points on 14-of-18 shooting and also had four steals. But Capel wanted more.
Not numbers, leadership.
``He played well,'' Capel said of Jones. ``He scored some points, so quite naturally you think he played great. But as one of the leaders of the team, it's his responsibility to be that positive force, to put his arm around somebody who is struggling and make him feel better.''
Jones said he didn't think the Monarchs quit at the end, but rather that they were trying to hard to make things happen.
``But when we played bad, we played real bad,'' Jones said. ``A couple of times when things started getting out of hand, I could have taken control a little bit, both emotionally and physically.''
Antibes' David Rivers was the one who was most in control. The former All-American at Notre Dame, who was a Los Angeles Lakers first-round draft choice, dazzled the crowd of about 1,500 at Espace Piscine Arena with his shooting (27 points, six 3-pointers), passes (9 assists) and steals (7).
Rivers gave ODU's overmatched sophomores E.J. Sherod and Corey Robinson a lesson in French Hoops 101.
``It was a big learning experience for me,'' Sherod said.
ODU also learned the officials let a lot of physical play go in France's pro league. There was a lot of bumping and grinding, pushing and a few veiled punches. Old Dominion's three best inside players - Odell Hodge, Mario Mullen and David Harvey - all spent a considerable amount of time on the bench with foul trouble.
``It is different basketball than what we're accustomed to,'' said Mullen, who was the third Monarch in double figures with 12 points. Petey Sessoms scored 24.
``There was more pushing and shoving,'' Mullen said. ``At first we were kind of timid. We didn't know how physical it would be and what we could get away with.''
In the end, Capel wasn't timid about letting the Monarchs know what they can't get away with.
OLD DOMINION: Sessoms 8-15 5-5 24, Harvey 0-1 0-2 0; Sherod 0-1 1-2 1, Robinson 2-4 2-2 6, Johnson 1-4 0-0 3; Mullen 4-5 4-5 12, Hodge 3-8 0-1 6, Jones 14-18 7-8 38, Parker 0-1 0-1 0. Totals: 32-57, 19-26 90.
ANTIBES: Rivers 10-17 1-2 27, Mensah 6-7 1-2 16, Foirest 2-6 6-8 10, Fagot 1-2 0-0 2, Ostrowski 7-12 3-5 17, Diaye 1-2 0-2 2, James 8-18 6-7 27, Methelie 2-2 4-4 8, Domon 0-1 0-0 0, Redden 4-9 3-5 11. Totals 41-77 24-35 120.
Halftime: Antibes 67-50. 3-point goals: ODU 7-18 (Sessoms, Jones 3). Antibes 14-27 (Rivers 6). Fouled out: Methelie. Rebounds: ODU 23 (Sessoms 5), Antibes (Ostrowski 6). Assists: ODU 12 (Sherod, Robinson, Mullen, Jones 2), Antibes 23 (Rivers 9). Total fouls: 24, Antibes 24. Technical: None. A: 1,500. by CNB