Cavaliers Down WVU To Capture Mountain Classic
By Davis Marshall
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Bill
Gibson's Cavalier cagers captured
the Mountaineer Classic title
Saturday night with an overtime
94-91 upset of host West Virginia,
Amazin'.
"We beat ourselves, it should
have been ours, we gave it back to
them, this isn't the place to
comment on officiating,"
commented a sour grapes
Mountaineer coach Sonny Moran,
"We had seven more field goals, ten
more rebounds, and four less
turnovers." Sorry, Sonny, but
Virginia ain't that bad. Wouldn't
you call 32 or 34 foul shots the
mark of a good team? No? Well
how about a sophomore who scores
22 points in one half to bring a
team back from a 13 point deficit
(Parkhill had a fantastic ball game,"
conceded Sonny). And how about
that officiating, coach, wasn't it at
least equally bad?
The case in point came with the
Mountaineers struggling to maintain
a precarious two point lead with
about three minutes left. Parkhill
stuffed Larry Harris at the foul line
and then tied him up. Harris
slammed the ball into the court.
"That's a technical," screamed
Coach Gibson as he took off across
the court towards the ref
(Meanwhile Sam Oglesby jabs Big
Bill in the ribs while attention is
focused elsewhere). "That's a
technical," screams Sonny,
indicating that Coach Gibson
crossed the half court line.
Typically, the referees ignored
everything and continued
concentrating their wits on giving
technicals for slapping backboards
or looking the other way on
travelling or goal tending.
The Gibson-Moran bout ended
with no decision but it seemed to
help give the Cavaliers the lift they
needed. With 2:53 remaining Gerry
picked off a pass after he had
brought the Cavs within two at
80-78 on two free throws. Parkhill,
controlling the ball, drove to the
right baseline where he lofted a fall
away jumper through the net for
the tie. Next Bill Gerry fouled Curt
Price on a rebound, but the foul
throw was missed and Gerry came
up with the rebound. Parkhill faked
from the foul line, then connected
to put Virginia up 82-80. Wil
Robinson gained a tie with two free
throws and the Cavaliers had
control with 1:06 remaining. Tim
Rash and Parkhill took their time
dribbling around, waiting for the
high percentage, final shot. With 6
seconds left Dewitt passed to Gerry
underneath who laid it up amid
hectic harassment from Sam
Oglesby. The shot didn't go in, nor
did the following tap. Some might
have called Oglesby's hands
knocking the ball off the rim goal
tending, but the refs, who were
busy tying their shoes anyway,
didn't. Besides, the fans didn't seem
to mind too much.
Virginia controlled the overtime
tip off, and Rash started things
rolling with a set shot from the
corner. Gerry followed with a
lay-up underneath and Parkhill
continued to stun the Mountaineer
crowd of 6,814 with a fast-break
lay-up. West Virginia closed the gap
to three on a foul shot and jumper
but captain Gerry established a five
point margin, 90-85, as he
connected on both ends of a one
and one situation. With 1:06 left
Robinson hit from 15 feet, but
Scott McCandlish countered with a
tip in. Mike Heitz, the
Mountaineers'' seven footer, tallied
another lay up at 0:27 but Frank
Dewitt, the only Cavalier to miss a
free throw, put the game out of
reach when he sank two free throws
with 14 seconds left. With the fans
yelling "Shoot, Mike, shoot" (you
have to remind him, explained a
Mountaineer partisan) Heitz topped
off the scoring with his ninth
lay-up. Only nine seconds remained
as Parkhill and Rash dribbled
victory away from the high and
haughty Mountaineers.
Coach Gibson called the victory
"our best of the year" as the
unbeaten (6-0) champions of the
Big Five Tournament and
Mountaineer Classic prepared for
the BIG game with North Carolina
for the ACC lead Tuesday night.
Barry Parkhill (30 points, 8 assists)
looked more like the superhooper
he's supposed to be than he has all
year; "We've been waiting for
Barry, his help doesn't usually show
in the stats," said Coach Hooter,
"he makes us go, there's no doubt
about it." Also the coach added, "I
can't say enough for Scott
McCandlish ... Tim Rash was great
on defense ... Bill Gerry is as tough
as you can find underneath ... We
feel extremely, extremely lucky."
Scott McCandlish was the only
Cavalier to be elected to the
All-Tourney team, though the
second team (if there had been one)
would have been dominated by
Virginia. Parkhill led the Cavalier
cavalcade of scoring with 39 points
(17 of 18 foul shots) while
McCandlish and Gerry each had 36
points with 25 and 19 rebounds,
respectively. Rash (nine assists) and
Dewitt added 25 and 20 points,
respectively.
Having easily beaten previously
unbeaten Boston College 79-69
Friday night, the possibility of a
national ranking is obvious. "We
definitely deserve consideration,"
admitted Coach Gibson. The coach
went on to say "we don't have a
great ball club, we just struggle...
our strength is our teamwork ...
they'll never be out hustled." But a
13th ranked Duke squad thought
we were pretty good, and West
Virginia (74-71 conqueror of 15th
ranked Army Friday night) didn't
really think Virginia was bad,
Maybe 20th ranked North Carolina
will decide the issue, one way or
another, in Chapel Hill tomorrow
night.
