James, Carter carry ODU past The Citadel in tourney

NORFOLK

For Darius James, Thursday's game against The Citadel in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament offered a chance at redemption.

For Keyon Carter, it was an opportunity to display his offensive versatility.

And for coach Blaine Taylor, it offered the possibility of reaching a coaching milestone as he entered with 299 career victories.

So as the three sat down in the media room after Old Dominion's 67-59 victory in front of a sparse crowd of 2,157 at the Constant Center, maintaining a straight face was somewhat difficult.

They'll probably grin all the way to Monday night's meeting with Belmont (20-12) in the CIT's second round, also to be played on ODU's home court.

James, who did not make a field goal in two games in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament, scored 13 points and dealt eight assists. He also had three steals against three turnovers.

"In the CAA tournament, I just couldn't get anything to fall," said James, ODU's sophomore point guard. "I really needed to put that game behind me."

James, and everybody in the building for that matter, figured out in the second half that Carter had the hot hand. His eight field goals, which were a career high, were like snowflakes: No two were alike.

There was an offensive stickback. On another, he followed his own missed jumper. He scored on a mid-range baseline jumper.

He also scored on an alley-oop inbounds pass from James, kissed a short turnaround jumper off the glass, scored on a lefthanded stickback on a teammate's missed free throw, canned a baby hook shot in the lane and buried a 3-pointer.

All in all, it was a nice game of h-o-r-s-e by the 6-foot-8 redshirt sophomore, who was 8 of 12 from the field.

And by the end, he was jacked up about his 17-point effort, which equaled his career high. So jacked that he let out a deafening scream when he drained a 3-pointer from the left wing with 4:15 remaining to give ODU a 60-53 lead.

"That was a little bit of the playground coming out in me," Carter said.

It was the first time all night that it really looked as if the Monarchs (22-10) would shake the pesky Bulldogs (20-13), who were paced by center Demetrius Nelson's 25 points.

As well as Carter played throughout - he also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds - his most cerebral play of the night came midway through the second half when instead of pulling down an easy defensive rebound he volleyball-spiked the ball to midcourt.

Kent Bazemore scooped it up in stride and Marsharee Neely finished at the other end with a resounding dunk.

The win pushed Taylor's career record to 300-159.

Quipped Taylor: "Shoot, I'd have gone bowling tonight if I'd known I was going to roll a 300."

Rich Radford, 446-2463,rich.radford@pilotonline.com