THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411270225
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Holidays are nice, but Old Dominion's basketball team was happy to return to work Saturday.
The Monarchs worked over Towson State, 93-75, in coach Jeff Capel's home debut before 3,925 at Scope. ODU had opened Nov. 16 against Virginia in the Preseason NIT, then waited 10 days to play again in what will be its longest layoff of the season.
``It was too long,'' ODU forward Petey Sessoms said. ``When we came on the court, we blew up. Everyone was ready to play.''
ODU's challenge was to play with the same intensity and purpose displayed in the three-point loss to Virginia. One knock on ODU last year was that it didn't always display the emotional fervor necessary against lesser teams.
The players heard more than once during the 10-day break that the emotion they showed against Virginia needed to be the rule, not the exception.
``Coach every day kept pressing us on that,'' Sessoms said. ``He didn't want us to get too cocky coming into this game.''
Old Dominion (1-1) took control almost from the opening tip. After Towson State led 4-3, the Monarchs went on a 9-0 run. ODU led by 16 just over 11 minutes in, but during the next 3 1/2 minutes the Tigers (0-1) cut the margin to 31-23 before Capel called time.
``We've seen in the exhibition games and against Virginia that we have a tendency to go away from the things that got us the lead,'' Capel said. ``We talked about staying together as a team and playing team offense and defense, which is what got us the lead.
``When we get a lead, sometimes we have a tendency to gamble a little bit defensively and free-lance on offense. I just reminded them what got us the lead.''
The Monarchs apparently got the message. They went on a 16-4 run to close out the half up 47-27, and coasted in the second half.
``It was important for us to continue to execute and not let them go in at halftime with the thought, `Hey, we can still win this game,' '' said ODU guard Mike Jones, who led the Monarchs with 20 points. All of them came in the first half, as Jones shot once in the second half and was 7-of-11 on the game.
Old Dominion spread the wealth as its lead expanded to 31 points. The starters sat down with five minutes remaining and the Tigers trimmed the margin to under 20.
Sessoms had his second consecutive double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Odell Hodge (13 points) and Mario Mullen (11) also scored in double digits, while freshman point guard Brion Dunlap dished out 10 assists. All 11 ODU players saw action, and all but Corey Parker scored.
The Monarchs shot 51 percent from the floor. Last year, ODU only shot better than 50 percent three times, and not until the 19th game.
Towson State got 27 points from Ralph Blalock and 21 from Stevie Thomas. The Tigers, who did not have the benefit of an exhibition game before their season opener, shot 29 percent in the first half, 37 percent on the game.
``They looked a little nervous, and their timing wasn't there,'' Capel said. ``I'l like to think a lot of that had to do with our defense. I was really pleased with our defensive intensity this afternoon.''
Towson State assistant coach Jim Meil agreed that ODU's defense bothered the Tigers. Meil filled in for Tigers head coach Terry Truax in the postgame interviews. Truax spent much of the game with an ice bag on his eye, which he scratched while putting in a contact lens.
ODU won't have to wait long for its next game. The Monarchs host Southeastern Conference member South Carolina at 7:35 p.m. Monday. Capel hopes it draws a bigger crowd than Saturday's, which was announced at 3,925 but appeared to be about half that.
``We would like to see 6,000 or 7,000 people in here,'' Capel said. ``We appreciated the 3,900 that were here. But that made this a tough game for us. A lot of the time, we had to create our own excitement.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Paul Aiken, Staff
Towson State's Ryan Lexer, left, tries to launch a shot over Old
Dominion's Odell Hodge. Hodge finished with 13 points and eight
rebounds.
by CNB