Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 22, 1992 TAG: 9202220332
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DALEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
PRINCE GIVES CAVS TITLE SHOT
In the beginning, it was Matt Hill's game; at the end, Bobby Prince took over, as he usually does.The Lord Botetourt senior guard closed his home career by leading the Cavaliers' second-half rally in a 74-70 boys' basketball victory over Northside, leaving the teams tied atop the Blue Ridge District standings.
They will square off Monday night at 7 at Salem High to break the stalemate. Equally important as the title will be tournament seedings. The winner qualifies for the Region III tournament and will need to win only one game to make the Group AA tournament.
Also important, the winner will not be in the same bracket as Laurel Park, the state's No. 1-ranked team, and unbeaten Altavista. The loser must come back through the district tournament to make the region.
Hill sparked the Vikings to a 41-36 lead at intermission with 21 points. The 5-foot-11 senior had 15 points in a torrid first-quarter display in which he was 6-of-7, including 3-pointers.
Hill also guarded Prince and held Timesland's fifth-leading scorer to two field goals and eight points in the first 16 minutes. After intermission, the roles were reversed. Prince guarded Hill in a triangle-and-two defense, and the Vikings' guard didn't get a shot from the field until there were 52 seconds left in the game.
"Obviously, we'd like to see Matt get more shots. But give Botetourt's defense credit," Northside coach Billy Pope said.
Botetourt coach Don Meredith noted that Hill hadn't been shooting that well.
"The triangle-and-two was the only way to force someone else to shoot," Meredith said. "I bet we haven't practiced that defense two minutes since November."
In the second half, Prince scored 18 points, mostly from the free-throw line, where he made 13 of 14 for the game. With 1:23 left, Prince's two free throws pushed the Cavaliers (14-6 overall, 7-1 Blue Ridge) in front 69-68.
Nineteen seconds later, after Craig Layman stole the ball from the Vikings (16-4, 7-1), Prince rebounded a missed layup attempt by teammate Jeff Cronise and followed up with a bucket. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw to give the Cavaliers a 72-68 lead.
"The first half, Matt was unconscious," Prince said. "I started out cold. I hit a jumper and thought things were going to be pretty good. Then I missed a 3-pointer and some other shots wouldn't go in. I figured it's not going so well for me, so I figured we'd go to someone else to score."
Derek Loyd, who had only three points earlier in the week in a game at Salem, warmed up to score 17 and Layman added 14 as Botetourt's trio of guards helped the Cavaliers make 22 of 48 field-goal attempts, including 8-of-13 from 3-point range.
Hill wound up with 25 points, but had only four free throws in the second half.
"That defense is usually the kind we take care of, but we were a little slow in the third quarter and then we picked it up in the fourth quarter," Hill said. "Bobby makes things happen. He's a pro at that and he's a pro at getting to the line."
Prince, hitting 82 percent from the line coming into the week, has made 34 of 35 attempts from the line over the past four games.
The Cavaliers never led until Loyd's layup made it 45-44. Northside didn't score from the field in the first 4:53 of the third quarter as Botetourt went on top 53-44. The Vikings were 18-of-31 in the first half but cooled off and made only 27 of 57 for the game.
Sophomore Nathan Hungate, up from the junior varsity, led Northside's rally with 11 second-half points and four assists. The Vikings crept to 67-66 on Walt Derey's layup with 3:10 left.
A minute later, Northside got possession still down by one and called a timeout. Almost immediately, Northside forward Jimmy Porter shot a running jumper and missed. But Kelly Dampeer stole the ball for Northside and drove for a layup to give the Vikings their final lead, 68-67. \
see microfilm for box score