THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502260188
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Old Dominion played a forgettable basketball game on the night it held ceremonies to remember its Division II national championship team and this year's seniors.
ODU hung on to beat William and Mary, 60-55, before 4,960 at the ODU field house Saturday, despite one of its worst halves this season. The Monarchs finished the regular season 17-11, 12-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. That matched the Monarchs' best league mark since the program became Division I, and gave them a two-game lead over second-place UNC Wilmington.
``For this team to go 12-2 in this league is just a tremendous accomplishment,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said.
The Monarchs, winners of five of their last six, will open the CAA tournament at noon Saturday at the Richmond Coliseum against the No. 8 seed, which will be either Richmond (3-11) or George Mason (2-11).
The Patriots play William and Mary Monday, and if they win the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds will be determined by a coin flip. If George Mason loses, it will play the Monarchs.
ODU coasted to a 39-23 halftime lead over the Tribe (7-18, 5-8), but then things got ugly.
Senior Mike Jones' basket with 14:13 remaining and Derrick Parker's follow slam dunk at 9:51 were the Monarchs' only baskets of the first 18 1/2 minutes of the second half. The Monarchs were 2 of 14 from the field - they had made just 3 of 18 in the final 7 minutes of the first half - until Mario Mullen's 12-foot baseline jumper with 1:30 to play. The Tribe cut what once was an 18-point lead to 48-45 with 4:24 left.
ODU kept the Tribe at bay from the line until it made three field goals in the final 90 seconds. The Monarchs finished with four fewer baskets than William and Mary, but had an 18-5 advantage from the foul line.
Senior Petey Sessoms came off the bench to lead ODU with 20 points. On senior night, he didn't start for the first time since his freshman season because he was late for ODU's shootaround earlier in the day.
``I just made a mistake, that's all,'' Sessoms said.
Sessoms was inserted in the game with 15:05 left in the first half, and scored 13 points in 5 1/2 minutes.
``I don't have a lot of rules, but one of them is you have to be on time,'' Capel said. by CNB