Are you a Baltimore Orioles fan in this area unhappy that you won't be able to watch your team on TV this season, now that the games have moved from CSN to the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network? Only Cox customers and DirecTV customers will be able to see MASN.
If you want to vent about your inability to see the O's for an article I'm doing for the paper, call Mark Berman at 540-981-3125, or email me at mark.berman@roanoke.com
2006-2007 TOP TIMESLAND SWIM TIMES
(Final)
GIRLS 200 FREE
1:56.81 – Nancy Baar (Patrick Henry)
1:58.53 – Devin Henry (Hidden Valley)
1:59.89 – Lauryn Childress (Hidden Valley)
2:01.37 – Allison Martin (Patrick Henry)
2:02.33 – Victoria Mesner (Northside)
2:04.26 – Bunge Okeyo (Roanoke Catholic)
2:04.27 – Miriam McGeath (Patrick Henry)
2:04.55 – Brittany Clawson (Marion)
2:05.25 – Brittany Boxler (William Byrd)
2:05.38 – Dani VanKerckhove (Cave Spring)
GIRLS 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
2:12.05 – Miriam McGeath (Patrick Henry)
2:12.49 – Lauryn Childress (Hidden Valley)
2:13.44 – Nancy Baar (Patrick Henry)
2:15.58 – Devin Henry (Hidden Valley)
2:16.11 – Grace Aheron (Patrick Henry)
2:19.87 – Meggie Austin (North Cross)
2:20.08 – Allison Martin (Patrick Henry)
2:20.19 – Jessi Thangjitham (Blacksburg)
2:20.68 – Victoria Mesner (Northside)
2:24.69 – Michelle Woody (Patrick Henry)
Mark Berman back here in Columbus, Ohio, where a great Virginia Tech basketball season came to an end with a 63-48 loss to Southern Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Tech's late-season shooting woes continued. The Hokies shot 41.3 percent from the field, including 2-of-13 from 3-point range. A.D. Vassallo was a woeful 0-of-6 from 3-point range.
SIU lived up to its billing as one of the nation's best defensive teams.Tech was the 8th team to score fewer than 50 points against SIU, ranked third in D-I in scoring defense.
"It's hard for you to get second-chance shots and they play great defense in transition," Jamon Gordon said. "Half court, it just seemed like we were just missing shots."
"One thing they do well is they play help defense," Zabian Dowedell said. "Anytime you drive you can expect to be cut off by another defender. I think we did a good job of kicking the ball and penetrating and kicking but we just didn't make enough shots."
Dowdell's last-season shooting woes continued; he was 3-of-9 for the field. The All-ACC guard had just seven points.
Coleman Collins picked up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half and went to the bench. Coach Seth Greenberg put him back in with less than 12 minutes left but he fouled out with 7:50 left.
Gordon was 7-of-9 from the field for 16 points but was 1-of-5 from the line. Deron Washington had 15 points but was just 6-of-12 from the field
Tech led 18-15 before SIU closed the first half on a 13-2 run, but Greenberg was more upset with his team's shooting woes before the run than during the run.
"We had good looks early in the game. We didn't make them," he said.
SIU was 12-of-21 from 3-point range. Jamaal Tatum had 21 points and was 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Tony Young, averaging 9.6 points, was 4-of-8 from 3-point range and had 17 points.
"They was hitting everything from the outside," Gordon said. "We was trying to double down. They would make a great pass out of the post. ... We kept moving around and sometimes we got caught looking at the ball when it was coming out .... They were taking shots at the end of the shot clock and anytime you do that, that kind of kills your momentum because you've played defense for 35 seconds and then they hit the shot, it's kind of hard."
A few closing thoughts after writing two stories on Virginia's 77-74 loss to Tennessee for Monday's print edition of The Roanoke Times:
Tennessee's 39-29 rebounding margin marked only the third time in 32 games that Virginia had been outrebounded by 10 or more. The Cavaliers earlier had been outrebounded by 16 and 13, respectively, in losses to Utah and North Carolina.
"It was one of three or four different things that cost us," UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "We didn't get as many offensive rebounds (six) as we're accustomed to, but that was balanced by the fact that they didn't get as many easy baskets."
In other words, UVa reduced some of its emphasis on the offensive glass in order to curtail UT's fast break.
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Adrian Joseph played 23 minutes, scoring 10 points in 14 minutes in the second half, but no other Virginia reserve played more than seven minutes.
Tennessee used nine players, compared to the 11 that Virginia played, but all four of the Volunteers' substitutes played 10 minutes or more.
"We also thought fatigue was a factor," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "We really work hard at balancing the minutes and it's hard sometimes."
Pearl said that Tony Jones is the assistant coach who monitors substitutions and Pearl told him at one point, "Who, exactly, is going to score for me out there, Tony?"
Pearl said it might sound "crazy" that star guard Chris Lofton played only 33 minutes and was never in foul trouble, but "go back and look at the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and he never played the whole game. He always got his rest so he could make plays at the end."
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Pearl blamed reserve Jordan Howell for not fouling UVa's Sean Singletary before Singletary missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game.
Howell was covering Jason Cain, Pearl said, and should have switched on to Singletary when Jason Cain set a pick for Singletary's man.
Pearl said it always be his plan to foul "because they have to make four plays to beat you. They have to make the first shot, they have to miss the second, they have to get the rebound, then they need to make another offensive move. The other way, they only need to make one play."
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Virginia made five of its first eight 3-point shots, then missed 15 of its next 16 shots before Sean Singletary connected with 11.9 seconds left. The Cavaliers shot 37.9 percent from the field, the fifth time in the last 10 games that they failed to hit 40 percent, and shot 26.9 on 3-pointers.
In their last three losses, counting setbacks at Wake Forest and against N.C. State in the ACC Tournament, Virginia has gone 5-for-20, 6-for-21 and 7-for-26 from behind the 3-point line.
On the other hand, Virginia's 31 made free throws Sunday (out of 36) were its second highest total of the season. Virginia was 39-of-49 from the line in a 103-91 victory over Maryland.
Mark Berman here from Columbus, Ohio, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team is down 28-20 at halftime to Southern Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Hokies have missed eight of their last 10 shots and are shooting just 37.5 percent from the field (9-of-24) in the half. Tech is 2-of-8 from 3-point range; A.D. Vassallo is 0-of-4 from 3-point range. Tech is 0-of-3 from the line.
SIU, ranked third in the nation in scoring defense, has held Tech to its fewest points in a half this season. Tech scored just 21 points in they first half Friday's first-round win over Illinois, only the second time it had scored just 21 in a half this season.
Tech led 18-15 on a Jamon Gordon 3-pointer with 5:49 to go, but the only other points it got in the half was a Gordon jumper with 2:27 left. The Salukis ended the half on a 13-2 run that included three 3-pointers by Missouri Valley Conference player of the year Jamaal Tatum.
SIU is shooting 41.7 percent from the field and is 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
Gordon is doing well offensively. He is 4-of-4 from the field - although 0-of-3 from the line - for nine points. Zabian Dowdell is 3-of-7 for six points. Deron Washington is 1-of-4 for three points. Coleman Coliins is 1-of-1.
Vassallo is 0-of-4 from the field. Lewis Witcher, who barely plays anymore, missed two shots in the final two minutes.
SIU's Randal Falker scored two if his three baskets after Collins went to the bench after picking up his second offensive foul with 7:59 to go in the half.
The Hokies have hurt themselves with seven turnovers after committing just nine in the entire Illinois win.Tatum has 11 points and Tony Young eight.
SIU is winning even though Matt Shaw, their third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder this year, hasn't played because of a sprained ankle he suffered Friday.
Fifth-seeded Tennessee was 12-of-22 from the free-throw line before going 9-for-9 in the final 1:20 to defeat fourth-seeded Virginia 77-74 in the second round of the NCAA South Regional at Nationwide Arena.
Chris Lofton did not have a field goal in the second half but finished with a team-high 20 points, going 8-for-8 from the line in the second half. UVa's J.R. Reynolds led all scorers with 26 points, only four in the final 25 minutes.
Mark Berman here from Columbus, Ohio, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team, to my utter amazement, scored the final 12 points of the game to beat Illinois 54-52 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"We knew the game was going to be ugly because at times both of our teams were offensively challenged," coach Seth Greenberg said. "I didn't know it was going to be that ugly.
"It's just another example of the resiliency of our basketball team. We obviously were a little bit dysfunctional at times offensively. We squandered a number of scoring opportunities, but we continued to defend. Obviously we extended our defense [late] and turned them over some, got them on their heels a little bit in terms of not attacking us. The more passive they got, the more aggressive we got."
Tech will play Southern Illinois at 2:40 pm Sunday. It will be a rematch from last November, when SIU won 69-64 in the fifth-place game of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla.
Tech trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half Friday. Brian Randle made a layup to put the Illini up 52-42 with 4:27 left, but Illinois never scored again.
Illinois wanted to make Tech play a half-court game and got its wish. Tech's halfcourt offense was dreadful until the final 4:27, but then Deron Washington (14 pts) had two 3-pointers and the game-winning bank shot. He was 2-of-10 from the field prior to those three late buckets.
Greenberg put the ball in Gordon's hands late. He praised Gordon for doing a good job o fpenetrating and making plays for his teammates.
"Zabian [Dowdell] told me at one point in the game that I need to step up," said Jamon Gordon, who had 10 points and seven assists. "I told him, all right, I'm just going to try to get to the hole as best I can. I start driving, they start helping over."
Tech won despite shooting 35.7 percent from the field, its third-worst percentage of the season.
"We were horrible in terms of moving our offense and running our sets," Dowdell said. "[The half court offense] hasn't been real good lately. That's why we haven't been scoring as many points as we're usually accustomed to."
Tech switched to pressure defense for those final minutes, and it paid off.
"We were pressuring so much. They came down the court and they were throwing the ball all over the place," AD Vassallo said.
"If we wouldn't have pressed, we would've lost," Gordon said. "Pressure kind of won the game. They played not to lose, and when you do that, you always lose."
"We just tried to speed them up," Dowdell said "They really don't like to get into an uptempo type of game so the press kind of forces them to speed up."
"We had to get more possessions in the game," Greenberg said. "I'm not sure we sped them up but we did turn them over. ... That was a way to find a way to maybe get some extra possessions, turn them over, maybe get out in transition and score some easy baskets."
Tech won even though Vassallo was 3-of-11 from the field, Zabian Dowdell 3-of-9 and Gordon 2-of-6. Coleman Collins was 2-of-4 but was 9-of-12 from the line for 13 points. Jamon was 6-of-9 from the line.
A.D. and Deron had big defensive rebounds in the final minutes, and Collins played well defensively down the stretch.
Vassallo went to the line for the first time all night with Tech up 53-52 with 23.1 seconds left. He missed the first one but made the second for a 54-52 lead.
"I thought that first one was going in," he said. "That rim played with me right there. That ball hit the rim too many times and came out. I knew definitely I was going to hit one of the two."
Greenberg was whistled for a technical foul for a foot-stomping protest of a no-call with 16:24 left. He said he probably overreacted.
Illinois shot 35 percent from the field in the second half and finished with 21 turnovers.
Mark Berman here from Columbus, Ohio, where the Virginia Tech men's basketball team has been lousy in the first half and trails 29-21 at halftime to 12th-seeded Illinois in the NCAA tournament.
Tech is getting the job done on the defensive end, forcing turnovers and keeping the Illini from getting second-chance points. Illinois has eight turnovers and just one offensive rebound. Tech even got Illini center Shaun Pruitt in foul trouble.
But Tech couldn't do anything on the other end. Tech is shooting 29.2 percent from the field to Illinois' 48 percent. Tech isn't getting any second shots. Tech has just two offensive rebounds.
Tech is also not getting the fast break going, despite getting stops and defensive rebounds. I think one basket off the fast break.
Zabian Dowdell didn't shoot enough. He is 3-of-6 from the field but went long spells without shooting.
AD Vassallo is just 1-of-5 from the field, as is Deron Washington. Jamon Gordon is shooting from too far out and is 1-of-3. Coleman Collins is 1-of-3, missing a breakaway dunk after stealing the ball in the final minute of the half.
Markus Sailes missed the front end of a one-and-one with 8.8 seconds left, no big surprise there.
With Tech down 25-19, Seth Greenberg calls a timeout. And what's the best Tech can do after the timeout? Cheick Diakite shooting from too far outside. Then Illinois forward Warren Carter, being guarded by Lewis Witcher, nails a 3-pointer and foul shot for a four-point play and a 29-19 lead with 1:21 left in the half.
Tech trails on the boards 18-14.
Not looking good for Tech - looks like one-and-done if they can't get the offense going.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- To see the ease with which Virginia won its first-round NCAA men's basketball game with Albany, it makes you wonder why it was such a rare occurrence.
An 84-57 victory over Albany put the Cavaliers in the second round of the NCAAs for the first time since they reached the final eight in 1995.
UVa's opponent Sunday at 12:10 p.m. is Tennessee, a 121-86 winner over Long Beach State in Friday's second game at Nationwide Arena.
The Vols (23-10) had a trio of 20-point scorers -- Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Ramar Smith -- with 25, 24 and 22 points, respectively.
J.R. Reynolds had 28 points and Sean Singletary added 23 for Virginia, which is 5-0 this season when its two starting guards each score 20 points or more.
Reynolds, a senior from Roanoke, Va., made his first seven shots from the field and finished 9-for-13, only the second time in 12 games that Reynolds had made more than 50 percent of his shots.
Reynolds had gone 9-for-44 in his previous three games, averaging 11.7 points over that span. He also had a team-high seven rebounds Friday.
Reynolds has a hip injury that he has been unsuccessful in keeping quiet.
"I'm not surprised because J.R.'s done a lot of this throughout the two years that I've been with him," UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "What we've tried to do is manage his injury throughout the later stages of the season.
"I thought this week that his time on the court was good and it got him his rhythm back, which was lacking, but we still had time to rest him and make sure he was feeling comfortable that way."
Virginia, an 8 1/2-point favorites, never let Albany get inside 19 points during the second half and led 60-30 at one point.
"Guard play is really going to be to your advantage in the NCAA Tournament," Albany coach Will Brown said. "If you have more than one guy that can go off and they have Singletary and Reynolds, they go off on the same night, teams are going to be in trouble.
"If one of them goes off, they're good enough to carry a team. So, I think the big thing for them is, they probably need some other guys to step up and help them.
"And, I've said this over and over: You talk about the great teams in the ACC, right away everybody thinks of North Carolina and Duke. Virginia was the team that tied Carolina. They're good. They're doing something right."
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Think Virginia fans would have taken a 23-point game from J.R. Reynolds in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
That's what Reynolds had at the half in leading Virginia to a 45-25 lead against Albany.
Reynolds, who entered the game in a 9-for-44 shooting slump, made his first seven shots from the field and finished the half 7-for-9.
On one of the shots he missed, Reynolds grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws.
In the process, Reynolds, a senior from Roanoke, Va., moved into 10th place on UVa's all-time scoring list ahead of John Crotty (1,646).
Reynolds also drew the early defensive assignment on two-time America East Jamar Wilson, who had 12 points at the half but didn't get his first bucket until UVa was ahead 21-6.
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