THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230534
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DOUG DOUGHTY, LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: 61 lines
Georgia Tech gets Virginia's vote.
The Cavaliers, who have lost five games this season to teams ranked in the top 10, got one of their toughest fights from the only ACC team with a losing record.
Virginia seemingly had no answer for Georgia Tech junior Matt Harpring, but came from behind in the last 3 1/2 minutes Wednesday night to defeat the Yellow Jackets, 68-64.
Harpring tied a season high with 29 points - and thought he had 30 - but senior point guard Harold Deane bailed out the Cavaliers by scoring or assisting on six points in the final 42.2 seconds.
Deane, who earlier had missed two free throws, put Virginia ahead 66-62 when he hit both ends of a one-and-one with 18.7 seconds left and had words for Harpring as the teams broke for a timeout.
``I just told him, `You fouled the wrong guy,' '' said Deane, who played 39 minutes on a sore shin that had him limping badly at times. ``I wasn't going to miss those.''
Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins said the Yellow Jackets had no intention of fouling Deane, but he was unable to get his players' attention during a 20-second timeout with 21.7 seconds left.
The Yellow Jackets thought they had cut the deficit to 64-63 on an apparent 3-point basket by Harpring, but official Frank Scagliotta said that Harpring had his foot on the line and had the score changed during the timeout.
``I felt we were down one point and I said guys, `Here's what we're going to do,' '' Cremins said. ``We kinda lost it there. We had just about come out of the huddle.
``Frank's a great official. I really respect him. If he saw it, he saw it. If he's right, then I'm proud of him. I asked Matt, `What do you think?' He said, `Coach, I feel certain I was behind the line.' ''
Georgia Tech was able to cut the deficit to 66-64 on a tip-in by Michael Maddox with 10 seconds left, but U.Va. got the ball to Deane on the ensuing inbounds play and he fed Norman Nolan for a breakaway dunk.
``(Deane's) not as mobile as he normally would be,'' U.Va. coach Jeff Jones said, ``but he was tough enough to come up with the loose balls, to come catch the ball when we needed him to catch it. We knew we wanted the ball in his hands.''
It was Jones' hope that Deane would be in good shape after a one-game NCAA suspension, but Deane was limping noticeably from a sprained right shin that has plagued him for the last month.
``I think Harold really gutted it out,'' Jones said. ``If the Wake Forest game was the most painful his shin has been, then this probably surpassed it. We're not a real healthy basketball team right now.''
And, the Cavaliers didn't get any healthier Wednesday night. Courtney Alexander, the team's leading scorer, fell to the floor with 10 seconds remaining after suffering an injury to his left ankle - the same one he had injured in December, causing him to miss three games.
Alexander had one field goal in the second half, but it was a big one. His fadeaway over Harpring gave the Cavaliers the lead for good after they had squandered a 40-32 second-half lead.