THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 25, 1995 TAG: 9511250372
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Old Dominion needed a last-second free throw by Mario Mullen Friday to escape with a victory over Division II host Alaska Anchorage in the Great Alaska Shootout.
The Monarchs won 78-77 and will play Ohio for fourth place in the eight-team tournament today at 6:30 p.m. Ohio beat Texas Christian 86-68 in the other consolation semifinal Friday.
ODU, coming off its worst loss under coach Jeff Capel in the opening round against Duke, was elated to overcome the plucky Seawolves, who lost to No. 23 Indiana by five points Thursday.
``They're probably one of the best Division II teams I've ever seen,'' ODU center Odell Hodge said. ``They should be Division I, no question.''
The Monarchs (1-1) had a 57-48 lead with 14 minutes to play, but Alaska Anchorage went on an 8-0 run during a span in which ODU did not even get off a shot. The Seawolves tied the game 58-58 with 12:21 left. There were five ties and six lead changes from that point on, and neither team led by more than three points.
``Great basketball game,'' Capel said. ``I'll probably have a chance to enjoy it when I can sit back and watch it on film and I already know the outcome.
``I'm proud of the way we maintained our composure. That's a step forward from yesterday.''
Old Dominion tied the game at 77-77 with 1:11 to play when Joe Bunn scored two of his game-high 25 points underneath.
At the other end of the floor, Seawolf Rick Stafford blew by an ODU defender and went to the hoop as the shot clock wound down, but missed an open layup with 33 seconds remaining.
The Monarchs held for a final shot, and Mullen got the ball inside with time running out.
``My shot got partially blocked and I went up and got it,'' said Mullen, who scored six of ODU's last 13 points. ``I knew I didn't have time to come down and go back up, so I tried to shoot it from the air. The ref called it the right way.''
Alaska Anchorage's Jim Hajdukovich was called for the foul with one second left, which didn't sit well with the hometown fans.
``I don't have a clue what happened,'' Alaska Anchorage coach Charlie Bruns said. ``All I know is refereeing is something I never want to do in my whole life. You call what you see. We should have never been in a position where it came to that.''
After two Seawolves' timeouts, Mullen made the first free throw, then intentionally missed the second one while hitting the rim so that Alaska Anchorage would need a 90-foot prayer to win.
Hodge scored 19 points to combine with Bunn's 25 as ODU took advantage of an enormous size advantage inside.
``Coach told us from the beginning we had a size advantage and we wanted to get the ball inside,'' Bunn said. ``The perimeter players did a good job of getting us the ball.
``They were a scrappy group and played hard as a team. This team really needed a win.''
No one else reached double figures for the Monarchs, who were 3 of 13 from 3-point range. Hodge and Bunn combined on 18 of 29 shooting, but the rest of the team was 13 of 35.
Center Ryan Williams led the Seawolves (4-2) with 21. by CNB