THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300610
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
Nineteen points separated top-ranked North Carolina from Old Dominion on Thursday at Scope, which is probably justice. Few college basketball fans might argue that the Tar Heels aren't 19 better than ODU, particularly with the Monarchs minus injured center Odell Hodge.
Nevertheless, the process by which North Carolina dumped ODU, 98-79, before a paid crowd of 10,161 cast a positive light on both teams and made the final margin a bit of a lie.
Two intense, entertaining squads played as well as they have this season, and despite its obvious size and talent disadvantage, ODU trailed by only 76-70 with 8:29 to play.
But as the Tar Heels did to close the first half, scoring 21 points in the final 4:50 to take a 52-40 lead, they heated up again and ran off 16 points in the next five minutes.
That helped put the event - the first visit by a No. 1-ranked team to Scope - into the rout category. For ODU (5-6), it was better than that. Still a loss, but the dreaded moral victory.
``They played the most intense and focused that they've played in three weeks,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said of his players. ``I'm proud of the effort, but if you don't win, there's no cigar. This type of intensity would have beaten a lot of teams, but it wasn't enough to beat the No. 1 team in the country.''
In the first half, intensity could do nothing about UNC sophomore forward Jerry Stackhouse, who scored 25 of his career-high 29 points in the first 20 minutes. Stackhouse blitzed the Monarchs with 9-for-9 shooting from the floor, including three 3-pointers, and a 4-for-4 effort from the foul line.
Stackhouse was part of an impressive three-spoked sophomore scoring effort that figures to carry North Carolina (8-0) this season. Center Rasheed Wallace, maybe the country's finest collegian, scored 24 points, shooting 12 for 16, and point guard Jeff McInnis added 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting.
They spearheaded a brilliant 60 percent overall shooting performance (including 10-of-15 3-pointers) by the Tar Heels, who surpassed 90 points for the fifth time in eight games. ODU managed just 43 percent shooting but was more victimized by North Carolina's 42-32 edge in rebounds and poor success against UNC's matchup zone in the second half.
The zone came into play after ODU had trimmed its 52-40 halftime deficit to 59-55 in the opening minutes of the second half. Mario Mullen, who scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds, got loose down low to score ODU's first six points and Petey Sessoms, who finished with 19, shook free for a 3-pointer to give ODU life.
The Monarchs were further buoyed at the 17:23 mark when Sessoms hit a follow shot and was fouled by Wallace, who was hit with a technical foul. Sessoms converted two of his three free throws and on the ensuing possession, Mullen followed a Sessoms miss to make it 59-55 with 16:48 to play.
North Carolina, which plays mostly man-to-man, switched back to zone and the momentum slowly shifted. ODU missed five shots in a row, three of which were 3-pointers, and got no offensive rebounds. UNC took advantage by scoring nine consecutive points to go up, 68-55.
ODU finally found some success against the zone, and behind three 3-pointers by Mike Jones, closed to within 76-70. North Carolina rocketed off on its final burst, however, and left ODU gasping.
``Tonight, I think the difference was we didn't get any breaks down the stretch,'' said Jones, who led ODU with 25 points. ``If we had had a ball roll our way or a call go our way, I think it would've made a difference. We lost by 19, but I don't think the difference was but two or three minutes where we didn't get any baskets to fall for us and it seemed like all their baskets went for them. Of if they didn't fall, they got a rebound and started over again.''
North Carolina coach Dean Smith called his team's effort ``the best game we played this year. We shot well, we tried very hard and we played together as a team.''
He said he ordered more zone than he would have liked, but was forced to by the Monarchs' execution against his trapping man-for-man.
``I didn't think we'd have to play this much zone,'' Smith said. ``I was a little dissapointed in our sharpness defensively, but I think you need to give credit where credit is due. Their scheme allowed them to get the people open.''
Stackhouse spent the first half getting open and drilling the shots that fueled the Tar Heels. It was ODU's plan, Capel said, to force North Carolina to shoot from outside. The Tar Heels' accuracy was too much to overcome, though.
``When they're shooting the ball from the perimeter as well as they shot against us in the first half, I don't think there's a team in the country that can beat them,'' Capel said.
``You have to understand that (Stackhouse) is their power forward, making 3s. When they can step their power forward away from the basket that far and isolate Rasheed on the inside, we didn't stand much of a chance, because we don't have a player that can match Rasheed.''
Not many do. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Motoya Nakamura, Staff
Old Dominion's Petey Sessoms shoots over North Carolina's Jerry
Stackhouse during first-half action Thursday night.
by CNB