Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401230165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dobyns-Bennett of Kingsport, Tenn., survived the first quarter Saturday, but the Indians were buried in the second period of their boys' basketball game. Unbeaten Salem took the Tennessee team 68-61 in the first game of the Crestar Classic doubleheader.
At the end, though, Salem (9-0) was hanging on after building an 18-point lead. That was thanks in large measure to the second period, when the Spartans owned a 21-8 advantage.
"We played a decent first quarter, we were good in the second quarter and then it went downhill," said Charlie Morgan, Salem's coach.
Dobyns-Bennett (6-13), a Group AAA team in Tennessee, never had a chance to tie, but as the Spartans made mistakes in the final minutes, Morgan was benching players.
One who came out with 57.4 seconds left was All-Timesland selection Mark Byington, who scored 32 points.
"I pulled him because he missed a defensive assignment," Morgan said. "He's too good not to do what he needs to do defensively."
Matt Woolwine took a seat on the bench with 12.6 seconds left after he fouled the Indians' Roxy Lyons on a missed free throw by Salem.
"That wasn't smart," Morgan said. "Usually I pull players off the line to protect them. I don't think he'll do that again."
The mistake gave Dobyns-Bennett one last chance. Roxy hit two free throws to make it 66-61. After Bryan Monroe missed the front end of one-and-one for Salem, Lyons couldn't get a layup to fall. Byington took a long pass at the other end for a stuff shot that was sort of a weak exclamation point.
Byington missed his first three field-goal attempts, stalling Salem's usual fast start. "I just missed them. I had wide-open shots," Byington said.
After that, Byington missed very little as he canned 12 of 15 shots and finished 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Byington's only miss in the second half was his final free throw, and he faced an assortment of defenses including a triangle-and-two that also put a defender on Kevin Garst.
"We were a little tentative. We hadn't played in a week and Coach Morgan warned us about that," Byington said.
The second quarter was about as good as the Spartans, ranked second in the state Group AA poll, can play.
Salem hit eight of 15 field-goal attempts, and its defense held the Indians to 3-of-11 shooting.
"They got the ball to their kids who can shoot and basically ran it down our throats," said Steve Shipley, Dobyns-Bennett's coach.
Defensively, Salem played very well for three quarters. Center Nathan Routt, who had 15 points in support of Byington, came up with four steals.
Salem hit 25 of 51 field-goal attempts for the game. The Spartans made the game tough on themselves at the free-throw line, where they were 11-of-23. In the final quarter, Salem hit only six of 15 to give the Indians all the chances they needed.
Dobyns-Bennett responded, making eight of 15 field-goal attempts in the final quarter after going 15-for-39 in the opening three periods.
"We're not a good shooting team, but we hit a few shots," Shipley said. "If you hit a few shots, that makes the game easier."
by CNB