THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HONOLULU LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Old Dominion's coaches talked to the Monarchs about what they had to do to beat Hawaii.
Then the Rainbows talked them out of it.
ODU followed the game plan for about 27 minutes Saturday night in the Hawaii Nike Festival before collapsing and losing, 71-63, to the host team, snapping the Monarchs' three-game winning streak.
After ODU built a 43-33 lead with 15:04 left to play, the Rainbows scored 12 unanswered points as part of a 23-4 run. The Monarchs, who came halfway across the Pacific for this tournament, looked like a team playing at 3 a.m., which was about when the game ended back on the East Coast.
ODU missed 10 consecutive shots and went more than 10 minutes without a field goal.
``The players from Hawaii started talking a little trash to our guys, and instead of remaining focused on what we had to do and sticking with our game plan, we got caught up with one-on-one confrontations with their guys,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``Unfortunately, that was our downfall.''
Hawaii forward John Molle Jr. said ODU started the talking and the Rainbows refused to shrink from it.
``That's part of the game,'' said Molle, one of Hawaii's biggest woofers.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace winced at the mention of trash talking, saying he's not too fond of it.
``But if they did it and it worked . . . who knows?'' Wallace said.
And who could have known the Monarchs would shoot so poorly one night after their best shooting night of the season in the opening-round win over Weber State?
The Monarchs made just 21 of 62 field goal attempts for 33.9 percent, their worst performance in at least the last two seasons. It was the same story from 3-point range, where ODU's 17.4 percentage (4 of 23) was also its worst showing of the last two seasons.
``You're going to have some bad nights shooting,'' ODU forward Petey Sessoms said.
Sessoms was selected the tournament's most valuable player by the media. He had 25 points, nine rebounds and three steals against Hawaii to go with his 24 points against Weber State. But Sessoms' shooting eye was bleary-eyed Saturday. He made just 7 of 21 field goals, including 3 of 13 3-pointers.
It was the same all down the line for ODU. Mike Jones, also selected to the all-tournament team, made 5 of 15 field goals and 1 of 8 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. Center Derrick Parker hit just 3 of 11 shots, while forward Mario Mullen spent much of the night in foul trouble and was held to six points, well below his 13.3 average. He had been in double figures in four of the last five games.
The other key stat was rebounding. Hawaii, led by 7-foot-2 center Tony Maroney's 13 boards, had a 45-33 rebounding edge, the largest against the Monarchs in 34 games.
ODU (5-4) is 5-0 when it outrebounds opponents, 0-4 when it gets outrebounded. ODU still hasn't won on an opponent's home floor.
Despite the gruesome numbers, the Monarchs had the Rainbows right where they wanted them. Because ODU couldn't match up with the Rainbows' size or depth, Capel called for his team to mix up its defense virtually every possession with man-to-man after Monarch missed shots, zone after makes.
During ODU's stretch of more than 10 minutes without a field goal, the pace of the game quickened as Hawaii began to press defensively. The Special Events Arena crowd of 7,258 got into the game for the first time, and ODU got out of sync offensively. Hawaii converted ODU misses into several fast-break baskets, and the tempo that was once to the Monarchs' liking became their albatross.
``They're a very good up-and-down team, and they like to run and push it,'' Capel said of the Rainbows (4-0). ``That's their game, and it's our game. But when you get into a fight with a heavyweight and you're a middleweight, you can't trade blows with him.''
ODU had one last chance to get off the canvas after Hawaii's big run. The Monarchs had cut the Rainbows' nine-point lead to five when Sessoms had an open-look 3-pointer with about 2:20 to play that would have brought ODU within two. The shot missed, and Hawaii scored the next six points.
Capel planned to give the Monarchs Sunday and today off to enjoy Hawaii. The team heads to Seattle Tuesday and will play Thursday at 10 p.m. against Washington in the Kingdome. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Hawaii guard John Molle Jr. hangs in the air after slipping Old
Dominion guard Mario Mullen, right, during the championship game of
the Hawaii Nike Festival on Saturday night.
by CNB