Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RUSTBURG LENGTH: Medium
Last year, it was Magna Vista that hit a couple of free throws to beat the Vikings. Thursday night, Northside's hopes of making the big show vanished in similarly excruciating fashion.
On the biggest play in a game of big plays, Martinsville's Curtis Pilson drove into the lane, rocked and hesitated, then hit an 8-foot jump shot with three seconds left to lift the Bulldogs to a 62-60 boys' basketball victory over the Vikings.
With the victory, Martinsville (23-2) earned an automatic trip to the final eight of the state tournament, which will be played March 8-10 at University Hall in Charlottesville.
The Bulldogs will meet the winner of tonight's Laurel Park-Altavista game in Saturday's Region III title game at 7:30 p.m. at Rustburg. Both finalists automatically qualify for the state tournament.
Until Pilson's late heroics, it was anybody's guess who would be booking motel rooms in Charlottesville.
Northside (19-5), playing marvelously, led 45-33 midway through the third quarter before Martinsville coach Husky Hall's troops made their charge.
The Bulldogs caught the Vikings at 52 with 5:55 to play, but never led until Pilson stole the ball from Ron Glass and broke the length of the court for layup to make it 60-58 with 1:24 left.
After Northside tied it 24 seconds later by going inside to its 6-foot-4 meal ticket, Gary Martindale, the 'Dogs melted the clock to :16 before Hall called a timeout.
"Curtis is stronger than the other kids, and he says he can beat anybody," Hall said. "So I told him to take it as far as he could and see what happened."
Pilson took the inbounds pass, dribbled into the lane and stopped, attracting a swarm of defenders. Seemingly tied up, the 6-2 senior rocked slightly, then sprung into the air. His feathery jumper hit the front of the rim and fell through the net.
"I believe I might have taken a little extra step, but the referee didn't call it," Pilson said. "I don't really know."
Martindale said he also thought Pilson might have shuffled his pivot foot on the play.
"He kind of rocked back and forth," Martindale said. "It looked like when he rocked back, he may have walked."
But one play didn't decide the game. The Bulldogs, who were outshot (55 percent to 31 percent) and outrebounded 25-13 in falling behind 34-25 in the first half, came back with defense in the final 16 minutes.
"We win games with defense and we weren't playing any," Pilson said. "Boy, Northside has some trees in there. That 44 [Martindale] and 40 [6-8 Steve Gibson] gave us all kinds of problems. We were lousy."
After going down 12 when Glass nailed a 3-pointer with 3:50 left in the third quarter, Martinsville outscored Northside 14-6 the rest of the period to climb back into it.
In the fourth quarter, Northside didn't hit a field goal until Martindale made a 6-foot turnaround with 2:58 left to break a tie at 54.
After ties at 56 and 58, Pilson picked Glass' pocket and scored, only to see Martindale respond with a basket.
Then came the final play.
"I think we still know how to get to Charlottesville," said Hall, whose team hasn't been to the state tournament since winning consecutive titles in 1985-86.
Guard Troy Brandon led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Pilson finished with 19 and point guard Travis Wells added 10.
Martindale led the Vikings with 27 points. Gibson added 16.
"We had a lot of problems with their pressure the second half," said a disappointed Martindale. "If you can't get the ball up the court, you can't score.
"This is a tough one. Tougher than last year. It's especially tough for me because it's the last one."
Northside coach Bill Pope will attest to that.
"The second year in a row . . . " said Pope, his voice trailing off.
"We wanted to go to the state so badly. I thought we played a super ball game. Martinsville had to play extremely well to beat us." \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB