Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9102280315
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Terriers combined that strategy with excellent free-throw shooting to beat Salem 65-48 in a first-round Blue Ridge District boys' basketball tournament game Wednesday at the Salem Civic Center. Their prize? A shot to play Northside, the state's No. 2 Group AA school, in the semifinals tonight at 7.
"We've been concentrating the last two weeks on the things we should do, and one of them was to get the ball inside more," Byrd coach Paul Barnard said.
Byrd's success was coupled with some poor shooting by the Spartans, who made 18 of 57 shots (31.6 percent) from the floor. That left Salem behind 33-17 at halftime and in a hole it could not escape.
Resorting to pressure defense, Salem chipped the deficit to eight in the first three minutes of the second half. The Spartans cut it to 51-47 when Mark Byington made a 3-point goal with 2:02 left.
Byrd (9-12) never tried another field goal. Forced to foul, Salem (6-15) sent the Terriers to the free-throw line, and they responded by making 14 of 16.
Barnard said his team has been in the position of having big leads before and holding on for a victory.
"We've got a good free-throw shooting team, so I wasn't concerned," he said. "It wasn't what Salem was doing; it was what we were doing. We'd make one pass and jack it up instead of making three passes. We were playing into their hands."
The Spartans' press forced 13 turnovers in the second half; that was their only offense as they scored often on their defense. The shooting has been an ongoing problem.
"It's what we've been worrying about," Salem coach Len Mosser said. "Over the last three games, we had been shooting but 32 percent. It's something we've worked on."
Barnard said, "Salem relies a lot on outside shooting, and, sometimes in a tournament game or in the civic center [with wide-open ends], that [poor shooting] can show up."
Four of Byrd's starters scored in double figures, with Matt Reynolds' 14 points leading the way. The Terriers, who had a 46-24 rebounding advantage and made a couple of crucial follow-up shots when Salem was rallying, were 25-of-29 on free throws.
Salem got 14 points each from Jay Sandy and Brian Arthur, but Byington, Salem's usual scoring leader, was held to nine on 3-of-10 shooting.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB