VUU's Robbins gets 700th career victory
By RALPH N. PAULK
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Even as Virginia Union was finishing an impressive win last night,
Dave Robbins continued to teach, chastise and console. He never let
up during his 40-minute march into the NCAA history book.
Finally, with 5 minutes remaining and the Panthers up by 27
points, Robbins allowed himself to relax. He exhaled at the buzzer
when the Panthers delivered his 700th victory.
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| Robbins |
Robbins, in his 30th season at Virginia Union, appeared tight
and nervous moments before the Panthers began their 100-73 rout of
Saint Paul's in a packed Barco-Stevens Hall.
Amid the postgame ceremony, the usually stoic Robbins held firm to
his game face before conceding a reluctant smile. Robbins, who has
led the Panthers to three NCAA Division II national championships,
seemed almost embarrassed by the attention.
"It's an honor to be recognized, but as far as 700 wins, it's the
same as the first win we ever had," said Robbins, whose first
collegiate victory came in 1978 against Washington (Md.)
College.
Robbins became only the fifth coach in Division II history to
reach the 700-win plateau. Also, he is third all-time among
Division II active coaches.
Robbins tried but couldn't avoid choking up some when Terry Davis,
a former Virginia Union All-American, delivered a tearful message
of appreciation from the Panthers' alumni -- including Charles
Oakley and Ben Wallace.
But the celebration hardly had finished before Robbins was
thinking X's and O's for Tuesday's game.
"I'm not trying to play it [700 wins] down," Robbins said. "Right
now, I'm worried about Tuesday's game. My first season, I was
hoping to get through without being fired.
"It's nice to win 700 games, but winning the game and the CIAA
[title] is what we're about. It's not about me. It's about these
young men and the university. I'm just riding along, and enjoying
it.
"I really didn't want any fanfare. After 30 years, you're going to
win a few games. We've been lucky to have some good kids."
Brad Byerson and LaKeith Blanks were better than good. Byerson
scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Blanks added
20 points and 13 rebounds.
"We know we don't do what you want us to all the time, but that's
part of being a coach," Byerson told Robbins during the
ceremony.
The Panthers, stuffing the paint as if it were a Thanksgiving
turkey, allowed the Tigers to carve them up with long-range jumpers
early in the game. They couldn't step out quickly enough to
challenge Saint Paul's freshman guard Adrian Moffatt (13
points).
It's exactly what Robbins didn't want the Panthers to do.
Moffatt, slipping behind baseline picks, buried three straight
treys to give Saint Paul's an early 16-12 lead. Finally, Robbins
leaped from the bench to scold the Panthers, demanding them to show
a little fight.
It was all the challenge Union needed.
The Panthers stayed in Moffatt's face, forcing him to relinquish
the ball for the rest of the first half. Still, the Tigers refused
to relent from their outside game -- a flawed strategy that blew up
in their faces.
The Panthers, rallying behind the inspired play of Blanks and Tim
Young, turned up the heat on both ends of the floor. They rarely
surrendered an uncontested shot in a 16-0 run in which VUU turned a
three-point deficit into a 13-point lead.
"Saint Paul's started out like a ball of fire," Robbins said. "We
changed defenses, and the kids did a good job."
Center Gregg Thondique gathered in a perfect lob pass from
Byerson, then banked in a layup to ignite the scoring binge. Blanks
and Young, ripping down a combined six offensive rebounds, scored
nine of 11 points as VUU led 27-17.
The Panthers pushed their lead to 53-31 with 1:39 left in the
opening half. But VUU's defense eased up enough to allow Saint
Paul's to score eight straight points and cut the lead to
53-39.
The Tigers flirted with a comeback early in the second half. Bruce
Royal scored nine straight to trim the Union lead to 60-49. But
Brandon Byerson delivered a counterpunch -- a 3-pointer at 17:19 --
to defuse Saint Paul's last charge.
