THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502180714
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Confidence shouldn't be a problem when Virginia Wesleyan begins play in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament today at the Salem Civic Center.
The sixth-seeded Marlins (13-11, 9-9 ODAC), open against No. 3 Bridgewater (16-8, 11-7) at 8:30 p.m. On Tuesday, Wesleyan closed its regular season with a 67-65 victory over Bridgewater.
``I think we can do some damage in this tournament,'' Marlins coach Terry Butterfield said. ``We're not looking at going out to enjoy ourselves for one game and then go home.''
Opening against Bridgewater also conjures up memories of the 1992-93 tournament, when the Marlins used a first-round win over the Eagles as a springboard to the ODAC title and their first NCAA Division III tournament bid since 1981.
The Bridgewater-Virginia Wesleyan winner will meet either second-seeded Roanoke (17-7, 12-6) or seventh-seeded Guilford (11-13, 8-10) Sunday at 4 p.m. The final will be played Monday at 7 p.m. The champion receives an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
According to Butterfield, the Marlins have already exceeded the expectations of many. Virginia Wesleyan returned just one starter and was picked to finish eighth in a preseason poll of ODAC coaches.
``At the beginning of the year, I thought if we won 10 games it would be a pretty good season,'' Butterfield said.
Three freshman starters have energized the Marlins this year. Percy Slight, formerly of Indian River, leads Virginia Wesleyan in scoring (13.8 ppg) and is second in the conference in field goal percentage. Center Sean Blackwell averages 11.6 points, eight rebounds and a league-high 1.9 blocks. And Ryan Bradford's 47 percent shooting from 3-point range also leads the ODAC and ranks fifth in the nation among Division III players.
The 1994-95 All-ODAC team was announced Friday. No Wesleyan players made the first or second teams. The first team was Bridgewater's Dan Rush, the conference player of the year and Emory & Henry's Dytanyon Norman, Randolph-Macon's Kurt Axe, Roanoke's Bryant Lee and Hampden-Sydney's Nate Schwab.
The second team: Hampden-Sydney's Jason Leonard, Guilford's Robby Pack and Shawn Peterson, Lynchburg's Otis Tucker III, and Washington & Lee's Cam Dyer. by CNB