THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060531
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Tulane forward Jerald Honeycutt figured that with Odell Hodge sidelined, Old Dominion wouldn't pose much of a threat to the Green Wave.
He was wrong. The Monarchs gave Tulane everything it could handle before losing in overtime, 85-80, before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,600 at Fogelman Arena.
``We came out saying, `Well, their main guy on the inside is hurt, we don't have to play as hard,' '' said Honeycutt, who played with Hodge on a summer NIT all-star team. ``I would hate to see them with Odell.''
Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel liked just about everything he saw Monday night except the final numbers on the scoreboard. The Monarchs used an aggressive 2-3 zone defense almost the entire night to compensate for the absence of their big man in the middle and played with an intensity and heart that was lacking in a loss Saturday at Southern Illinois.
``This was a gallant effort,'' Capel said. ``We did almost everything right. We're losers on the scoreboard, but that's it. They played their hearts out, and that's all you can ever ask a team.
``A couple breaks here and there and we walk out of here with a tremendous win.''
Or a free throw here or there. The Monarchs (2-3) made just 14 of 33 free throws. David Harvey, who started because of Hodge's injury, was 1 of 10 from the stripe. ODU shot better from both the field (47.5 percent) and 3-point range (62.5 percent) than it did from the line (42.4 percent).
Tulane wasn't much better from the line, making just 15 of 29.
``It definitely hurt us,'' Capel said. ``But I'm not going to harp on that, because they went up there with all the confidence in the world and were trying their darnedest to make them. It just didn't go down.''
The game was one of tremendous runs by both teams. The Monarchs had a 16-1 spurt in the first half to take a 35-21 lead, but in the final four minutes of the half, Tulane cut it back to 40-33.
Tulane (4-1) made its first three shots in the second half to tie the game at 40. ODU had a 15-3 run, only to see Tulane answer with its own 15-3 run to tie the game at 58 with 9:07 left. The teams were within a basket of each other the final nine minutes.
``Just like the Virginia game, we busted our butts the whole game but in the end we came up a little short,'' said ODU guard Mike Jones, who scored a career-high 31 points.
Tulane's Rayshard Allen scored on an offensive put-back to tie the game at 69 with 1:17 to play, and neither team scored again in regulation.
Midway through the overtime period, Tulane's Kim Lewis made a basket and was fouled by Jones. The three-point play with 2:31 to play was the start of a 6-0 run that put the game away.
``We were so tired,'' Capel said. ``We had given it our best shot.''
Jones shot well from both 3-point range (6 of 7) and from the field (12 of 18). Sessoms added 25 points, and Mario Mullen had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Mullen played the center of the Monarchs' zone defense, where Hodge ordinarily would roam.
Hodge, the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year last season, watched the game from the bench, dressed in street clothes. He wore an immobilizer over his pants leg to protect his injured left knee.
He will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test Wednesday morning to determine the severity of the injury he sustained in the Southern Illinois game.
``I hope it's something he can recover from in a couple weeks,'' Capel said. ``I don't want to jump to any conclusions.'' by CNB