THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412110249
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
D.J. Dunbar was, well, D.J. Dunbar Saturday night.
The senior, who was last season's Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star player of the year, scored 30 points to lead Churchland to a 66-52 win over Nansemond River in the final game of the Portsmouth/Suffolk TipOff Classic at Churchland High School.
Lakeland downed Norcom 63-58 in the early game.
``He was what he has always been,'' Nansemond River head coach Spencer Mayfield said. ``He's the backbone of the team and he played like it tonight.''
Dunbar and the Truckers, the area's third-ranked team, were helped by the Warriors' dismal 12-percent second-half shooting from the floor.
Nansemond River, ranked 10th in the area, put up a sizzling 70 percent from the floor in the first half and took a 38-33 lead into the locker room.
The Truckers opened the second half with nine unanswered points to take a 42-38 lead and then denied the Warriors a field goal in the third quarter. Nansemond River hit just two buckets the rest of the way - a 3-pointer from Antwan Willie, who led the Warriors with 19 points, and a layup from James Parker.
``I don't know what happened,'' Mayfield said. ``I wish I knew. It wasn't anything (Churchland) did differently. It was all us.''
Jason Lewis added 13 points for Churchland and Mike Holland totaled 10 points and 10 assists.
In the early game, Sebastian Yates tallied 27 points to lead the Cavaliers past Norcom.
Lakeland tried to give the game away in the third quarter with 11 turnovers, which the Greyhounds used to put up 10 unanswered points and narrow what had been a 16-point Lakeland lead to just a 47-41 edge at the close of the quarter.
Stephen Walton's jumper to open the fourth made it a four-point game at 47-43, but that was as close as Norcom would get.
``I wanted to hurry up and get the game over,'' Lakeland coach John Fuller said. ``We just wanted to control the ball more.''
Torrence Oxendine and Michael Ponds paced the Greyhounds with 12 and 11 points respectively. by CNB