THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412110250
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
In the first half Saturday, Old Dominion looked like a sinking ship. In the second half, the Monarchs turned into a cruise liner.
After a 63-61 victory over Wyoming, ODU can cruise off to Hawaii on the positive side of .500 and with a positive feeling heading into the four-team Hawaii-Nike Festival next Friday and Saturday.
Fittingly, after back-to-back games of atrocious foul shooting, Old Dominion basically won at the line Saturday. And, on a night when outside shooters Petey Sessoms and Mike Jones combined to make just 8 of 21 field goals, the Monarchs got big games inside at both ends of the floor with Mario Mullen's offense and David Harvey's defense.
But calling Mullen an inside player offensively was a bit of a misnomer on this night. He scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, stepping out to make a pair of 3-pointers and working on the perimeter much of the time to draw Wyoming shot-swatting post man Theo Ratliff away from the basket.
ODU coach Jeff Capel said the 6-10 Ratliff ``Has the timing of Bill Russell.'' Ratliff blocked six shots and Capel said he probably altered about 15. But there was little else in this game that reminded anyone of the great Boston Celtics teams of Russell's era.
Both teams had more turnovers (Wyoming 25, ODU 21) than field goals (Wyoming 23, ODU 18). ODU shot just 27 percent in the first half and threw the ball away 13 times, which Capel said left him pondering something on the bench:
``Can Odell (Hodge) really not play?'' Capel said of his star center, who is out for the season.
He can't, but Mullen picked up some of the slack, and so did Harvey. Derrick Parker got his first career start, but Harvey played more minutes and did an admirable job battling inside against Ratliff, whose 17 points was almost two under his average.
``David played physical in there,'' Capel said. ``He was a presence in there. He was leaning on Theo and wearing him down a little bit and battling with him and holding his shirt. Whatever he had to do.
``This was a character-building win for this team, because we didn't play particularly well, but we did play hard and we found a way to get it done.''
Another place the Monarchs (4-3) got it done was on the boards, where they had a 31-25 advantage. Sessoms led ODU in both scoring (21 points) and rebounding (11), his fifth double-double in seven games.
And they got it done at the line. Old Dominion had been below 50 percent from the line in its last two games. Saturday, the Monarchs made 21 of 25, and it was the difference in the game. Wyoming made five more field goals, but 12 fewer free throws.
Three of the biggest free throws were by freshman point guard Brion Dunlap in the game's final 35 seconds. He made one and missed one to give the Monarchs a 61-57 lead with 35 seconds left, then put in a pair that proved to be the difference in the game for a 63-59 lead with 19.4 seconds remaining.
Capel said he talked to both his point guards about how important it was for them to make their free throws when the ball was in their hands at the end of games. Dunlap, who had a career-high five points and six assists, had missed five consecutive foul shots since making his first two in the Virginia game.
``I made 22 of 25 yesterday in practice, so coming in tonight I thought, `This is just like practice yesterday,' '' Dunlap said. ``I think everyone tonight concentrated a little harder on free throws.''
In the first half, free-throw shooting was about the only thing the Monarchs did right as the Cowboys (1-3) jumped to a 12-point lead with just under 5 minutes to play in the first half.
``We were saying, `Don, maybe we shouldn't have shot so many free-throws in practice. We should have shot jump shots and layups,' '' Capel said.
Wyoming had 15 first-half turnovers and just 12 field goals, while Old Dominion committed 13 turnovers and made just six field goals.
The Cowboys were back up by 10 in the second half before the Monarchs went on a 14-2 run to take a 48-45 lead with 8:29 to play, when Mullen made his second 3-pointer.
``We knew one thing we can't do is give up,'' Mullen said. ``We thrive on and get energy on the defensive end, and that starts our offense.''
Wyoming scored the next four points to regain the lead. But a 10-point run gave ODU a 58-49 lead with 4:26 to play. Although the Monarchs did not make another field goal, the Cowboys trailed by at least four points every time they touched the ball the rest of the way.
``When it's down to crunch time, it's not about X's and O's, it's about how bad you want it,'' Wyoming coach Joby Wright said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Old Dominion's Mike Jones, right, goes after the ball after
Wyoming's Jeron Roberts loses control in Saturday night's game.
by CNB