ODU ends a long stretch with easy victory

NORFOLK

Old Dominion billed this as "separation week," a chance to put distance between itself and the middle of the Colonial Athletic Association pack.

After beating Northeastern on Monday and UNC Wilmington on Wednesday, all that stood between the Monarchs and the separation they sought was a reeling William and Mary squad - which also was concluding a busy, if less successful, week.

The Tribe didn't prove to be much of a hurdle. ODU rolled to a never-in-doubt 68-44 win Saturday at a sold-out Constant Center.

ODU improved to 14-9, 9-2 in the CAA, keeping pace with Virginia Commonwealth and Drexel one game behind first-place George Mason.

"We're a far different team than we were six weeks ago," coach Blaine Taylor said. "We were believers that we could compete and get better, and we've put ourselves in this league race in a pretty good spot."

ODU turned in one of its better start-to-finish efforts of the year, jumping to a 14-2 lead, weathering a brief Tribe comeback fueled by 3-pointers, then clamping down the rest of the way.

"If we do get out on a team sometimes we let them back in a game," guard Donte Hill said. "Today we did a good job of just smothering them when they were down, making dagger plays and making sure they couldn't come back."

William and Mary (4-19, 2-9) generally has a shooter's chance against ODU. After making seven 3-pointers in the first half, however, the Tribe hit just one in the second.

Unable to compete on the backboards - ODU held a 35-21 rebounding edge - the Tribe dropped its ninth straight in the series.

"We're not going to outrebound this team but we have to hold our own, and we didn't do a very good job of that," coach Tony Shaver said.

Nor did the Tribe take good care of the ball. ODU's defense made 10 steals without resorting to pressure. Several were of what Shaver called the "pick six" variety - leading to breakaway dunks for ODU.

Chris Cooper led the Monarchs with 14 points and nine rebounds in just 27 minutes. The 6-foot-9 Cooper did his damage inside and even in transition.

In one early second-half sequence he was rewarded for the running the floor, following up a missed breakaway layup by Dimitri Batten with a two-handed dunk.

On the next possession, he put back his own missed jumper to stretch ODU's lead to 50-32 with 13:58 left.

By the time a Trian Iliadis 3-pointer made it 63-37 with 6:41 left, the only remaining question was when reserve big man Anton Lar-sen, the only Monarch who had not played, would get in the game.

Larsen checked in with 4:50 left and quickly gave the crowd what it wanted, hitting a turnaround jumper.

It was that sort of afternoon for the Monarchs, who finished a string of five games in 11 days.

"It doesn't get much better than that - a sold-out house, a rivalry, and an awfully good performance," Taylor said.

The Monarchs don't play again until Thursday. Taylor will have surgery Monday to repair torn ligaments in his right knee, suffered when he sprang from the bench to jog to the locker room at halftime against Missouri Dec. 30.

Taylor said he's planning to be back at practice this week and on the bench Thursday, at home against James Madison.

Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com