Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 8, 1992 TAG: 9201080174
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHYLLIS A. FAIR SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VIKINGS OVERPOWER BLUE DEMONS 84-43
Kelly Dampeer's two steals in the first two minutes of the first quarter set the tone for the Northside-Christiansburg boys' basketball game on Tuesday night.Dampeer's steals led to scores as the Vikings (8-1) defeated the Blue Demons 84-43 in a non-district game at the Northside gym.
The Vikings' defense forced the Blue Demons (4-5) into 20 turnovers in the first half as they coasted to a 36-19 lead. Northside coach Billy Pope said his team were able to put a lot of pressure on the ball, which created offense.
"Defensively, we really worked together well," Pope said. "Our defense created a lot of turnovers and got easy scores."
Dampeer helped the Vikings get some of those easy scores. He scored nine points in the first quarter, five more than the Blue Demons did as a team.
Dampeer went on to score 12 points in the first half and 15 for the game, a season high. He also had three 3-pointers.
"Dampeer had a good night," Pope said. "He's been working hard on his 3-point shot."
He wasn't the only Viking who did well.
With Northside up 63-33 by the end of the third quarter, Pope pulled his starters out and gave the reserves an opportunity at some quality playing time. The reserves outscored Christiansburg 21-10.
Every player on Northside's team scored, a first this season.
"We call the second team `The Green Team,' " Pope said. "They really played well. [Assistant] coach [Ed] Culicerto works a lot with `The Green Team' in practice, and he has them ready to play every night."
Christiansburg coach Gerald Thompson praised the Vikings.
"They've improved greatly," he said, referring to the Blue Demons' Dec. 12 game against Northside.
In that game, the Vikings won 62-60 in the final eight seconds on John Baker's two free throws.
Thompson blamed turnovers for the Demons' problems.
"We had too many turnovers - 18 unofficially in the first half," he said. "We got to handle the ball better than that."
Thompson said he knew Northside was going to put a lot of pressure on the ball, but the Demons had hoped to capitalize by getting some back-door shots.
"We weren't running it like we wanted to," Thompson said. "We ran it a little in the third quarter, but we were already down by 20." \
see microfilm for box score