THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701190215
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 79 lines
All it took for Old Dominion to get going Saturday was a little heart surgery at halftime.
After a lethargic first half, the Monarchs played a near-perfect second half in rolling to an 82-65 win over defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Virginia Commonwealth before 5,719 at the Robins Center. ODU remains tied with East Carolina for first in the league.
``We didn't have any heart in the first half,'' ODU's Odell Hodge said.
Coach Jeff Capel hammered that home at the break.
``The coaches said to play with the heart of a champion,'' E.J. Sherod said.
Forwards Hodge (28 points, 12-of-19 shooting) and Mark Poag (24, 7 of 13 on 3-pointers) surgically cut up VCU in the second half. The Monarchs shot a season-high 62 percent in the second half while their defense ratcheted up the intensity to hold the Rams to 30 percent shooting after intermission.
``The second half was the best defense any team that I've ever coached in 18 years now has ever played,'' Capel said. ``Our intensity level was so high. We were challenging everything, there were not a lot of second shots for VCU and a lot of those turnovers we forced.''
Capel said he challenged his team at halftime to give more effort after a first half in which the Monarchs were fortunate to only trail 41-36. Asked the nature of that challenge, Capel smiled and said: ``Demonstrative. Good ol' yelling.''
ODU (14-4, 5-1) came out screaming.
After a 12-foot jumper by Rams' center Mylo Brooks (18 points) put his team up 43-36, ODU ripped off an 11-1 run to start what would be a 30-6 outburst over the next nine minutes. After Brooks' basket, the Rams made just one field goal in 10 minutes as ODU built a 66-49 lead midway through the second half. The lead peaked at 22 points.
``Just a thorough whipping,'' VCU coach Sonny Smith said. ``The worst we've had I guess - inside, outside, fast break, defense, blocked shots.
``A thorough whipping, no question about it.''
Hodge and Poag combined for 24 of those 30 points during the stretch when the Monarchs pulled away.
``When we play like that, we can't lose,'' Hodge said. ``That's not being arrogant, that's being honest. We were on fire inside and outside tonight. We haven't had that this year.''
Many of Poag's 3-point tries came on wide-open shots. Smith said that was partly because so many different players were guarding him, and partly because the Rams (6-8, 2-3) did a poor job picking him up in transition.
The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Hodge, meanwhile, was able to set up right under the basket so easily against VCU's physically overmatched interior players that he could have put out a shingle with a sign reading ``Open for business.''
He had plenty of customers, as ODU did a good job feeding the post in ringing up a season-high 24 assists.
``When we've got that inside-outside combination going it's pretty difficult for teams to do anything other than hope somebody misses a shot,'' Capel said. ``It puts a lot of pressure on teams.''
Poag has been mercurial during his sophomore season, tossing in 32 one game and tossing up bricks the next. But when he's on, he's as much of a force as Hodge is a horse.
``I really never know if I'm on or off until I look at the stat sheet after the game,'' Poag said.
``I see I hit seven 3-pointers and I say, `I must have been shooting pretty well.' ''
So was ODU point guard Brion Dunlap, who VCU practically begged to shoot, leaving him wide open to double down inside. Dunlap obliged, hitting 4 of 6 from the field for a season-high 11 points to go with seven assists.
VCU leading scorer Patrick Lee, among the CAA top 10 in eight statistical categories, suffered a dislocated left thumb in the first half and was not a factor with five points in 22 minutes. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Associated Press
Old Dominion's Mark Poag, left, and Reggie Bassette, battle VCU's
Torrance Archie for a rebound Saturday as ODU's Odell Hodge looks
on. The ODU perimeter game of Poag (24 points, 7 of 13 3-pointers),
inside presence of Hodge (29 points) and a tough defense made this
one easy.