THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412090776
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Old Dominion's game Thursday wasn't memorable, but it was meaningful.
In the Monarchs' second outing ``A.O.'' - After Odell - they learned an important truth: They can still play winning basketball despite having a big hole in the middle.
ODU struggled to defeat New Hampshire, 75-64, before a crowd that appeared to be about half the announced 4,967. Center Odell Hodge, out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was one of the spectators as he watched from the Monarchs' bench.
``This was not a pretty win, but it was a big win for this basketball team,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``After losing a player of Odell Hodge's caliber, you need to win one so you know you can.''
Capel can be thankful he still has a player of senior Petey Sessoms' caliber. Sessoms tossed in a career-high 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting - including a career-high eight 3-pointers - matched his career high of 12 rebounds, blocked three shots and had two steals while playing the entire game.
``I hear they've got a job for you selling popcorn at Scope,'' ODU assistant coach Mark Cline told Sessoms as he left the locker room. ``You did everything else tonight.''
The reality for Sessoms and fellow senior Mike Jones is that they're going to have to shoulder an increased burden for ODU (3-3).
``Going in I had a little bit more pressure than usual,'' Sessoms said. ``Usually when I have an off game, I can rely on Odell in the middle.
``I knew I've got to play well for us to be a good team, with or without Odell. Now that he's out, it just adds a litle more pressure for me to play hard.''
The Wildcats (3-2) failed to put a lot of pressure on Sessoms, particularly on several 3-point attempts in which he was left wide open.
``They set a lot of double- and triple-screens for him,'' New Hampshire coach Gib Chapman said. ``He's a very good player. We thought he and Jones would be the guys who could hurt us, and we did a good job on Jones but couldn't stop Sessoms.''
Sessoms scored scored 22 of ODU's first 29 points. The Monarchs trailed by nine points early, but evened the game at 40-40 at halftime. Old Dominion was up by 12 eight minutes into the second half before the Wildcats quickly cut the margin back to four. The Monarchs could not shake New Hampshire until the game's final 5 1/2 minutes, during which the Wildcats did not make a field goal.
After scoring 31 against Tulane Monday, Jones went 1 of 8 from the field, including missing all seven 3-point tries, and finished with just two points. He also had five turnovers and no rebounds.
With Jones off his game and Hodge out of the game, Sessoms needed some help. He got it from sophomore reserve guard E.J. Sherod, who made 6 of 9 shots and scored a career-high 14 points to go with a career-high eight rebounds.
``If I had to single out one player who I thought was the difference for us, it would be E.J. Sherod,'' Capel said.
Sherod said someone has to make up for the 17 points and nine rebounds Hodge was contributing through three games.
``Everyone coming off the bench has to give extra effort,'' Sherod said. ``It just so happened tonight was my night. Saturday, it might be somebody else.''
For the second consecutive game, Old Dominion's free-throw shooting was something else. The Monarchs made 10 of 22, marking back-to-back games in which they were below 50 percent from the line and had a better shooting percentage from the field.
``It's unbelievable,'' Capel said. ``We were a 75 percent shooting team from the line two games ago. I don't know what happened. Free throws are nothing but repetition and concentration, and maybe we haven't shot enough in practice.
``It's contagious. When somebody starts shooting them bad, everyone else seems to. We've definitely got to remedy that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on page C1 by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
In its second game since star center Odell Hodge was injured, ODU
learned it could still win...Hodge, above, is out for tthe
season...
Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
ODU's David Harvey, left, bangs a shot off the rim as New
Hampshire's Scott Drapeau and the Monarchs' Mario Mullen wait for
the rebound.
by CNB