Coverage from:
The Springfield Union-News
The Springfield Union-News -- notebook
The Boston Globe
The Boston Herald
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Daily Hampshire Gazette -- column
Bonus pictures


UMass starts new year with a win
By Ron Chimelis, The Springfield Union-News Staff Writer, 1/2/1999

AMHERST - The game wasn't much for offense, but it may have been a ray of hope.

"It's a great start for the new year, and that's how we see it,'' said University of Massachusetts guard Charlton Clarke, whose 18 points led a 55-40 men's basketball win over Virginia Tech yesterday at the Mullins Center. "We're 1-0 in the league, and that's what matters now.''

UMass won its A-10 opener despite 38.5 percent shooting, and is still just 4-6 entering Tuesday's non-conference home game against Iona. But there were also some bright spots yesterday for a team that desperately needed some good news.

Video clip: One of Rhymer's blocks.
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There was Clarke's renewed ability to drive to the basket and score. There was 6-foot-10 sophomore Kitwana Rhymer, who came off the bench to score six points with five rebounds and two blocks. One block came after a 37-23 UMass lead had shrunk to 40-32 with six minutes left, and was huge.

"That block turned it around,'' Clarke said. "He plays with heart and determination and aggression, and that's what we need.''

The fans agreed, and in the 12 minutes he played before fouling out, he became a favorite of the 6,415 fans.

"That (support) felt good,'' Rhymer said. "Regardless of whether I play eight minutes or 12 or 15, I feel I've improved a lot this season. The coaches tell me that every day, but I feel it myself, too.''

Audio clip: Ajmal Basit doesn't hide his emotions.
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The new strategy at power forward worked, too. Chris Kirkland started for the second game and though he shot 2 for 10, he grabbed eight rebounds and held Virginia Tech star forward Rolan Roberts to eight points. Ajmal Basit came off the bench for 14 good minutes with seven points and three rebounds.

And most of all, there was defense. With 40 points, Virginia Tech (5-5, 0-1) tied a Mullins Center low set by College of Charleston last year.

UMass led 23-17 at halftime, and 37-23 with 12:15 left. A 9-1 Virginia Tech run made it 38-32 and evoked bad memories of Tuesday's overtime loss to Davidson, but Clarke's basket started a decisive 11-1 run that included Rhymer's blocked shot against Hokies' center Russ Wheeler, and it was 49-33 with three minutes left.

"It was ugly, and not one of the outstanding offensive performances by either team,'' UMass coach Bruiser Flint said. "We talked about stopping Roberts and (guard) Eddie Lucas, and I'm sure they talked about stopping Lari and Monty Mack, and we both did pretty well at that.''

Mack had nine points and Ketner two, both season lows, but Ketner did haul down eight rebounds.

"At times it got a little erratic, but Charlton did a good job pulling the ball out when it did,'' Kirkland said. "And I just tried to take Roberts out of his game.''

With Roberts handcuffed inside, Lucas scored 14 points from the outside but shot 4 of 13. UMass held Virginia Tech to 31.1-percent shooting, and the Hokies missed 13 of 15 shots from 3-point range.

Video clip: Lari Ketner let his defense do the talking.
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"When the ball doesn't bounce our way (offensively), a lot of us get discouraged,'' Clarke said. "But we always take pride in our defense.''

Virginia Tech coach Bobby Hussey gave UMass credit, but thought his team contributed to its own demise.

''We didn't execute worth a flip,'' Hussey said. "We didn't rebound, didn't make shots and didn't play with much energy. And when you're playing defense hard but can't score, it takes a toll on your defense.''

"Coach says we got ourselves in a hole, and we can come out or it or go deeper,'' Clarke said. "We're trying to take some steps out of it, and this was a big step.''


UMass notebook
Flint finds fault with fans
By Ron Chimelis, The Springfield Union-News Staff Writer, 1/2/1999

AMHERST - It wasn't much of a problem yesterday, and University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach Bruiser Flint says he can take it, anyway. But he doesn't think subjecting his players to it is fair.

Video clip: Ajmal Basit deserved some boos on this bonehead move.
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"They shouldn't do that to the kids,'' Flint said Friday when asked about booing - a new phenomenon at Mullins Center. Yesterday against Virginia Tech, fans booed only once in the 55-40 win over Virginia Tech, after a UMass turnover capped a sloppy sequence in the second half.

They weren't always pleased with the offense, but the 6,415 remained supportive, though hardly raucous. It had been different Tuesday, when UMass blew a 15-point lead in an overtime loss to Davidson, causing the Mullins crowd of 6,506 to respond with what was believed to be the first widespread booing ever directed at UMass in its own building.

The Davidson loss was the 10th in 14 games for UMass, dating back to last season, and had soured the mood, though yesterday's offensively-challenged win soothed the critics at least somewhat.

"I'll take my lumps, no matter what,'' Flint said. "But how do you think a kid will react, hearing people yelling out that they think he stinks? "I know people say they're in the public eye, but they're also human,'' Flint said. "And the thing is, our guys represent the university well. They'll do anything for anybody, but people don't seem to care. All they care about is how many points they score.''

Flint's own criticisms of his players have sometimes been harsh, but he feels that the more loyal fans also understand the human side of the players. In fact, one criticism leveled at this team is that its players are too nice, and lacking the killer instinct needed to win at this level.

Only two of the 12 active scholarship players are seniors. But Flint is convinced fan intolerance goes far beyond Mullins Center, and infects sports in general.

"Fans will be fans, but these kids have feelings, too, and they're just kids,'' he said. "But fans don't want to hear that, college or pro.''

He knows the solution, even if he doesn't think there should have to be one in the first place.

"If we start winning, the boos will turn to cheers,'' he said. "But I don't think it's fair to the kids.''

KIRK'S CAUSE: In his second start, forward Chris Kirkland shot 2 for 10, but Flint likes what he sees.

"I think Chris is doing fine,'' the coach said. "He did a good defensive job on (Virginia Tech forward) Rolan Roberts, staying active and moving his feet, and that was important.''

Roberts, a 6-foot-6 sophomore that Flint calls one of the league's better players, scored eight points with four rebounds - about half his average output in each category.

ET CETERA: UMass is 17-2 in January under Flint ... Virginia Tech had been outrebounding its opponents by five a game, but UMass earned a 39-31 edge on caroms yesterday. The Minutemen are 4-0 when outrebounding their opponents, and 3-0 when holding foes under 50 points ... Virginia Tech's 14 field goals were an all-time Mullins Center low.


UMass: Back to the future
Defense keys win in league opener
By Joe Burris, The Boston Globe Staff, 1/3/1999

AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts and Virginia Tech yesterday combined on an effort that set college basketball back several years. So much so that the second half of their Atlantic 10 contest was played around the same time of Duke Ellington's first piano lesson.

But by late in the second half, UMass's occasionally sporadic offense began to catch up with its reliable, aggressive defense. It enabled the Minutemen to put together several strong sequences at both ends of the floor and that fast forwarded the game back to the present, giving UMass a 55-40 league-opening triumph before a listless Mullins Center crowd of 6,415.

Video clip: One of Clarke's assists went to Mike Babul.
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Guard Charlton Clarke had a game-high 18 points and added three assists to lead the Minutemen (4-6, 1-0), who bounced back from a disheartening overtime home loss to Davidson Tuesday. The Minutemen led, 23-17, at halftime, increased their lead to 37-25 with 13:38 remaining, then put the game away after Tech cut it to 6 with 6:08 remaining.

The Minuteman surge was led by sophomore reserve center Kitwana Rhymer (6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks in 12 minutes). With UMass ahead, 40-32, with 5:31 left, he rejected a shot by center Russ Wheeler and the Minutemen converted on the other end on a free throw by Mike Babul. Monty Mack made two more free throws after UMass got the rebound on Babul's miss of his second freebie.

That was the start of a 9-2 run that put the Minutemen ahead, 49-33, with 3:03 remaining. ''That was one of the biggest plays of the game,'' said UMass coach Bruiser Flint of Rhymer's block. ''He's showing that he's getting more comfortable on the court.''

Tech (5-5, 0-1), whose offense struggled with UMass's defensive pressure, never came closer than 12 after that.

''We didn't execute worth a flip, and whenever we did we didn't hit our shots,'' said Virginia Tech coach Bobby Hussey, who was putting it mildly. Tech's 40 points was its lowest output since the 1966-67 season, and it tied a Mullins Center low set by the College of Charleston last season. The Hokies' 14 field goals set a Mullins record.

At one point, it appeared Tech would struggle to reach the 40-point mark; it didn't tally 20 points until 16:24 of the second half. It also shot 31 percent from the floor and had just five assists.

''But we only had nine assists, so we weren't much better,'' said Flint, whose team finished with its lowest point total since its 46-point output in its first-round NCAA tournament loss to Saint Louis last season.

The Minutemen shot just 39 percent from the floor and saw leading scorer Mack finish with 9 points (10 below his average) and No. 2 scorer Lari Ketner attempt just four shots and finish with 2 points (10 below his average).

But Ketner tied teammate Chris Kirkland with a team-high eight rebounds. And though Kirkland hit just two of 10 shots from the floor, he held Hokies forward Rolan Roberts to just 8 points, 7 below his average.

Audio clip: In an ugly game, the MSG analyst wishes for some old UMass glory.
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''We won, but it was ugly,'' said Flint. ''It was not one of the most oustanding offensive performances by either team. Defensively we were able to clamp down on them, we didn't turn the ball over much [eight turnovers], and we made the baskets when we needed to make them.''

For the past two seasons UMass has offset a sub-par pre-January slate with a string of victories to lift it back into postseason contention. The Minutemen say yesterday's win could be the start of such.

''This makes us 1-0 in the league, and to us it's a great start to the new year,'' said Clarke. ''We're trying to put last year [the start of this season] behind us. Now it's time to make our run but we have to take it one game at a time.''

UMass hosts Iona Tuesday.


Minutemen survive deep freeze
By Mark Murphy, The Boston Herald, 1/3/1999

AMHERST - The NCAA adopted a 35-second shot clock as a way of preventing what happened in the Mullins Center yesterday.

UMass beat Virginia Tech, 55-40, in a game that would have needed tire chains to make it through the snow.

Video clip: Mike Babul with the rare jumper.
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Defense was at a premium, offense was negligible and the Minutemen (4-6) had no desire to question this one-game surge into 1999 in their Atlantic 10 Conference opener.

``As the coach says, we dug ourselves a hole,'' said UMass guard Charlton Clarke. ``So, do you want to climb out or do you want to go in deeper?''

The Minutemen didn't exactly respond by going airborne yesterday. They shot 38.5 percent for the game, including 32.1 (9-of-28) in the first half, and had to survive a combined 11-point performance by Monty Mack and Lari Ketner.

Mack scored nine points on 3-of-11 shooting. Ketner attempted only four shots, had two of them blocked and finished with two points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes.

``Collectively, the other guys made up for that,'' said UMass coach Bruiser Flint, who was encouraged by, among other things, the sight of Chris Kirkland shutting down Virginia Tech power forward Rolan Roberts.

Roberts, Tech's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game, struggled to get his shot off, managing just eight points on 3-of-7 shooting.

But this theme covered both lineups. Eddie Lucas, Tech's best shooter, clanged his way to 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Tech coach Bobby Hussey shrugged.

``For a while we played defense very well, but they didn't score many points and we had even less,'' he said. ``It was as cold as the weather outside.''

Far be it from Flint to disagree.

``It's ugly, offensively, all over the country unless you're Duke or Cincinnati,'' said Flint. ``I have a satellite dish and when I see some of these games all I can think is, `whew, these teams are shooting worse than us.' ''

Thankfully for Flint, however, his rotation was able to produce just enough yesterday, with Clarke slashing in for 18 sorely needed points. He was the only Minuteman in double figures.

Video clip: Basit feeds Rhymer for the jam.
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But with Kirkland and Mike Babul playing typically strong defense, and sophomore Kitwana Rhymer and the nearly forgotten Ajmal Basit contributing key plays as reserve big men, the Minutemen were able to stretch the ugliness into a 15-point win.

Rhymer came up with the most important play of the game when he swung over to block a drive by Tech center Russ Wheeler. The play that followed a Clarke drive with 5:42 left for a 40-32 UMass lead, fueled an 11-1 Minutemen run that essentially knocked the Hokies out of the game with three minutes left.

UMass, with Clarke doing the honors, salted this one at the free throw line. For a change, the ugliness hurt someone else.

``We have an early flight, so we have to get out of here,'' said Hussey. ``But some of our players must have got on the plane at halftime.''


Hokies pull disappearing act
By Andrew Ayres, The Richmond Times-Dispatch Correspondent, 1/3/1999

AMHERST, Mass. -- As Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Bobby Hussey began addressing reporters after the Hokies' Atlantic 10 opener yesterday, Hussey noted that his team had a plane to catch.

"It seemed like we left before the second half," Hussey said after his team's 55-40 loss to Massachusetts before a crowd of 6,415 at the Mullins Center.

The Hokies (0-1 A-10, 5-5) held UMass standout center Lari Ketner to two points, nine below his average. But the Minutemen (1-0, 4-6) held the Hokies to 31.1 percent shooting from the field.

"He's certainly the focal point of our defense," Hussey said of Ketner. "But we gave up layups to Charlton Clarke [game-high 18 points] and some other people."

The Hokies, who trailed 23-17 at halftime, struggled in the second half, particularly Rolan Roberts.

The Hokies' power forward picked up two early offensive fouls and was limited to just 20 minutes of action. He finished with eight points and was 2 of 7 from the free-throw line. His last miss, with the Hokies trailing 43-32 with 4:32 left to play, barely caught the net on the way down.

"We came up here and we didn't shoot it well," Roberts said. "I shot terribly at the free-throw line."

The best the Hokies could do offensively was Eddie Lucas' 14 points on a 4 for 13 day from the field.

The Hokies trailed the whole way, but they cut the Minutemen's lead to 38-32 with 6:08 to play when reserve Dennis Mims beat UMass reserve Kitwana Rhymer with a nice inside move.

Video clip: Rhymer can't quite finish this one.
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Rhymer, a seldom-used sophomore from the Virgin Islands, had two big dunks in the first half to help spark a UMass team that was coming off a stunning loss to Davidson, a 75-66 overtime defeat on Tuesday. This came on top of a 88-66 road loss to Marshall on Dec. 5.

Hussey's team went through a 4:43 stretch without scoring in the first half, watching a 15-13 deficit balloon to 23-14 before Lucas made a free throw.

The sub-zero New England temperatures the Hokies woke up to yesterday morning matched their play at times on the court.

"We didn't play with much energy," said Hussey. "It was as cold as the weather outside."


UMass defense preserves win
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 1/4/1999

AMHERST - It was a game that won't ever be shown on the Classic Sports Network, but despite its offensive ugliness, the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team opened its Atlantic 10 season with a win, defeating Virginia Tech, 55-40, Saturday in front of 6,415 at the Mullins Center.

Photo
Kit Rhymer: "I jam, therefore I am."
"It was ugly," said UMass coach Bruiser Flint. "Not one of the most outstanding offensive performances for either team, but we did some things and some guys stepped up. We still have a long way to go."

"It's a great start to a new year," said senior captain Charlton Clarke. "We're 1-0 in the league. We're trying to put last year behind us and start fresh right here. It's time for us to make that little run that we're going to make. It's like coach said. We dug ourselves a hole. Now do we want to come out or dig deeper?"

The win started a busy stretch for the Minutemen (4-6, 1-0 A-10) who play four games in eight days beginning Tuesday, when Iona comes to the Mullins Center for a 7 p.m. contest.

The Hokies' 40 points ties the lowest total ever for an opponent in the Mullins Center.

Flint said during the week that in order for his team to restore its confidence, it needed to respond well to adverse situations and make plays when an opponent was threatening. The Minutemen did that in the second half of Saturday's game.

After Lari Ketner scored his only basket of the game on a put-back, Clarke scored driving to the basket to give the Minutemen their biggest lead, 37-23, with 12:17 left in the game.

Taking advantage of some UMass fouls, the Hokies went on a 9-1 run to slash the lead to 38-32 with 6:09 remaining.

But unlike Tuesday's loss to Davidson, UMass abandoned its house-of-cards routine and counter-punched.

Clarke's ability to drive to the basket was the main ingredient in his team-high 18-point outing and he employed it to pull the Minutemen back ahead by eight, 40-32. Virginia Tech tried to answer, but UMass sophomore Kitwana Rhymer rejected an Eddie Lucas shot, to the delight of the home crowd.

Photo
Mike Babul works his way through a crowd.
"For a minute, we weren't stopping (the run) but thanks to this man right here," Clarke said, pointing to Rhymer sitting next to him in the postgame press conference, "and his big block, that turned the game around. We felt a sense of urgency that we had to put the ball in the basket and make free throws. Otherwise, what happened against Davidson was going to happen again."

UMass blew a 16-point lead in that game to lose in overtime.

The basket and the block started an 11-1 run by UMass that put the game away.

"I was just on my man," Rhymer said. I saw their guard coming down. I saw him go up and he tossed it up and I just had to get the block."

"That block was big," Flint agreed. "It was one of the biggest points in the game. It'll boost our confidence a little bit."

UMass opened the game with an 8-2 run, sparked by five points from Monty Mack and a 3-pointer by Clarke. Lucas led the Hokies with 14 points, and his early marksmanship kept Va. Tech (5-5, 0-1 A-10) close. The visitors trailed just 23-17 at halftime.

"This was a league game so it was pretty big," Flint said. "We have to go out and win the Atlantic 10 title, because that is one of our goals."


UMass win cause for optimism
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 1/4/1999

AMHERST -The 6,415 fans at the Mullins Center and any others who tuned into the game on television Saturday were looking for reasons for optimism, something to indicate that the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team's dreadful 75-66 loss to Davidson wasn't typical of how the rest of the season would progress.

While the Minutemen obviously still have major questions to answer on offense, they provided several signs of improvement in their 55-40 win over Virginia Tech:

* From a viewer's standpoint, the best thing about Saturday's win was Kitwana Rhymer. The sophomore from the Virgin Islands via the Bronx scored six points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked two shots before fouling out. But his numbers don't fairly portray the energy he brought to the game.

His blocked shot on Russ Wheeler late in the game helped end a Virginia Tech run.

Video clip: Rhymer puts back Monty Mack's miss.
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Quickly becoming a fan favorite, Rhymer received warm applause each time he came out of the game.

"It feels good when they cheer for me," Rhymer said, flashing a big smile. "It feels good."

"He would have played more, but he was in foul trouble," coach Bruiser Flint said. "He played well. He was active. He's getting better and more comfortable out on the floor."

Photo
Chris Kirkland goes up strong against Tech's David Whaley.
* In his second straight start, Chris Kirkland proved he belongs in the starting the lineup. Like everyone else, he struggled offensively (2-for-10 from the field), but he grabbed eight rebounds and did an excellent job on top gun Rolan Roberts. In addition to holding him to eight points, Kirkland absorbed two Roberts charges that helped put the Hokie forward in foul trouble.

"Kirk did a good job," Flint said. "I think Rolan Roberts is one of the best players in the conference. (Kirkland) was active. He kept his feet moving. He frustrated Roberts and got him into foul trouble. That was big."

"I just tried to play hard on Rolan Roberts," Kirkland said. "I tried to play hard, rebound and get loose balls."

* Charlton Clarke's offensive game has faltered so far, but with Monty Mack and Lari Ketner unable to score, he dusted off his once-automatic running-one-hander and knocked down 18 points to lead the Minutemen.

"I just take whatever comes in the flow of the game," Clarke said. "It was open tonight. I turned the corner and got in the lane. I just tried to create some stuff."

* While the Minutemen didn't have it on offense, their defense held the Hokies to a Mullins Center record-low 40 points.

Virginia Tech coach Bobby Hussey said the Minutemen defense wore his club down.

"When you play defense so hard and you can't score, it gets you talking to yourself," Hussey said.

Video clip: Ketner picks up his 2 points.
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* This game won't go on a highlight reel for Ketner, but his two points were deceiving, as this game looked nothing like his five-point, no rebound outing against College of Charleston.

The Hokies' defensive game plan was designed to deny him the ball and double-team him if he got it, a strategy that limited him to just four shots. But he didn't allow that to make him a nonfactor as he grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots, while the defensive attention on him opened things up for his teammates.

Consistency hasn't been a strong point with this year's Minutemen, so Tuesday's game against Iona could send UMass back to the drawing board again, but if the Minutemen can maintain Saturday's intensity, especially on defense, it's at least step in the right direction.


Bonus pictures
Courtesey: MSG Network

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Virginia Tech Hokies 40
Massachusetts Minutemen 55
at the Mullins Center

VIRGINIA TECH (40)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Ray             27   1-3   0-0   1-4  1  2    2
Roberts         20   3-7   2-7   2-4  0  4    8
Wheeler         30   2-7   2-4   4-8  1  2    6
Lucas           36  4-13   4-4   1-4  0  2   14
Dunlop          38   2-7   0-0   0-1  3  4    4
Kimbrough       15   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Whaley           3   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Floyd            2   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Viegas           3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Mims            22   2-6   2-4   1-4  0  2    6
Tor              4   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 14-45 10-19  9-28  5 19   40
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.311, FT-.526. 3-Point Goals:
2-14, .143 (Ray 0-1, Roberts 0-1, Lucas 2-8,
Dunlop 0-4). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 2
(Wheeler, Mims). Turnovers: 14 (Mims 4, Roberts
4, Dunlop 3, Lucas, Ray, Viegas). Steals: 3
(Dunlop, Mims, Ray).

MASSACHUSETTS (55)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Kirkland        26  2-10   2-4   2-8  1  4    6
Babul           37   3-9   1-3   1-1  1  0    7
Ketner          31   1-4   0-0   3-8  0  4    2
Clarke          34  6-12   5-6   1-5  3  0   18
M Mack          37  3-11   2-2   0-3  2  0    9
Oates            2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Depina           7   0-0   0-0   0-1  1  0    0
Rhymer          12   2-3   2-2   1-2  0  5    6
Basit           14   3-3   1-4   2-3  1  3    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-52 13-21 10-31  9 16   55
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.385, FT-.619. 3-Point Goals:
2-8, .250 (Clarke 1-3, M Mack 1-5). Team
rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 3 (Rhymer 2, Ketner).
Turnovers: 8 (Clarke 2, Depina 2, Ketner 2,
Basit, Rhymer). Steals: 4 (Clarke, Ketner,
Kirkland, M Mack).
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Virginia Tech      17   23  -   40
Massachusetts      23   32  -   55
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 6,415. Officials: Ken
Clark, Rich Sanfillipo, Joe Demayo.

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