THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180615
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
It's no surprise that dominance in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference this season is bound to be another battle between Hampden-Sydney and Roanoke colleges. Hampden-Sydney has four starters back from a team that went 22-6 a year ago and advanced to the round of 16 in the Division III tournament.
To get that far for the second time in three seasons, the Tigers needed to beat a familiar foe in the round of 32 - Roanoke, which went 26-2.
Coach Page Moir's squad is expected to be back in force with Bryant Lee, a 6-foot-5 senior and perhaps the ODAC's best all-around talent, around to lead the way.
Lee averaged 16 points and nine rebounds a year ago to help Moir boost his record to 89-44 over the last five years.
Lee led the league with nearly three blocked shots a game and was the second most accurate shooter with a 59.9 percent mark from the floor.
Except this season he'll have to shine without the help of Hilliary Scott, a first-team all-American now playing professionally in Ireland.
Lee, however, might have trouble taking the scoring title over Hampden-Sydney's Nate Schwab. A 6-5 junior, Schwab has modest physical tools, according to coach Tony Shaver, yet managed to score 17.5 points a game last year. He is the league's leading returning scorer and, other than Lee, the only returning first-team all-conference pick.
Schwab is rejoined at Roanoke by senior point guard Tee Jennings, a 5-foot-5 ballhawk who keys the Tigers' pressure defense. Jennings averaged three steals per game last year to lead the ODAC.
``Tee is really the centerpiece of our defensive pressure,'' said Shaver, 139-76 in eight seasons at Hampden-Sydney. ``He displays one of the biggest hearts on the floor of anybody who has worn the Hampden-Sydney jersey in a long time.''
Meanwhile, seniors Todd Kerr and Jason Leonard return to the lineup after averaging 14 points each last season. Leonard led the conference in rebounding with nine per game.
Off the bench, junior guard Ryan Odom, son of Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, is back to fill it up from long range. Odom will be looked to for expanded responsibilities, but the Tigers hope his shooting touch doesn't waver. Odom averaged 10 points last year and made at least one 3-pointer in 21 consecutive games.
Around the league, Bridgewater's Dan Rush, a 6-8 senior, returns to take a final run at the top of the national field-goal percentage leaders. Rush made 71.1 percent of his shots a year ago to finish second in the country. For his career, Rush has converted 67 percent of his attempts. by CNB