THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110398
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Randolph Childress was motivating Friday, and in so many ways.
Wake Forest's superlative senior point guard did it not only with 40 points, the most prolific scoring outburst the ACC tournament has seen in 25 years, but also with pointed words that spearheaded an 87-70 first-round victory over Duke.
When the first half had dwindled to the 8:33 mark and Duke had charged to an amazing 31-13 lead, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, smoldering in his sideline crouch, did all he could do - call timeout.
Duke (13-18), seeded ninth, was on an 11-2 run. Cherokee Parks and Erik Meek were pummeling top-seeded Wake Forest (22-5) in the post. Duke was hitting most any shot it tossed up, all of them largely uncontested.
Something had to give for Wake Forest, so Childress gave it out, harshly. In the timeout huddle, Childress usurped Odom and lit into his sluggish teammates, challenging Wake Forest's mere presence in the Greensboro Coliseum.
``He told me I should be shutting Cherokee down,'' forward Travis Banks said, smiling now after the Deacons' escape. ``He told Tim (Duncan) he should be kicking Erik Meek's butt. We started listening to him. And he asked for the ball more. That's when we started going on a tear, and we just tried to get him the ball.''
As wise moves go, this was the wisest. Childress, who also had nine assists, immediately hit a 3-pointer, one of his tournament-record eight. Duke then missed three consecutive shots, which were answered by Rusty LaRue's 3-pointer, another three by Childress and a layup by Duncan.
Wake Forest had scored 11 points in 1:32. And Childress was on the way to 20 points in the next seven minutes, 27 for the half, as Wake Forest stormed to a 46-45 halftime advantage.
``I was really embarrassed about it, and it had nothing to do with the seeds or anything like that,'' said Childress, who in one first-half stretch made 10 shots in a row. His output was the highest in the tournament since North Carolina's Charlie Scott scored 41 in 1970. ``Duke was just the more aggressive team. We just didn't show up, and I was embarrassed.''
Odom said Childress' tirade hit his players in the heart, no small feat this late in a long season.
``What you say makes little difference this time of year, it's how they feel,'' Odom said. ``They were embarrassed and hurt, and they're not used to that. From that point on, I think we can stand tall. We played very well.''
Childress, a fifth-year senior from Clinton, Md., answered again after Duke, once behind by 10 in the second half, crept to within 65-63 with 5:45 to play. Childress hit a 3-pointer, made three free throws after being fouled by Ricky Price on a three attempt, then sank his final 3-pointer with 4:08 left for a 77-66 lead.
``Guarding Randolph Childress was definitely a hard task,'' said Price, one of several Blue Devils to try and fail miserably on Childress. ``You try to contest every shot that he takes, and you can try to keep him in front of you, but if the man's hot like that, he's gonna hit his shots. It's like a no-win situation when you're guarding him.''
No win, for Duke, was no lie. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
Wake Forest guard Randolph Childress passes around Erik Meek of
Duke. The Deacon senior had 40 points and nine assists.
by CNB