Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992 TAG: 9202230053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
MAGNA VISTA, TUNSTALL PILE UP POINTS IN WACKY AFFAIR
No official records exist, but Magna Vista's 117-99 victory over Tunstall on Tuesday had to be one of the wackier basketball games in Timesland history."I've never seen baskets going in as quick in my life," Magna Vista coach Jim Young said.
"I remember when I was coaching in Southwest Virginia, we beat a team 106-105 in overtime and I thought that was something until we got into this the other night," Tunstall coach Bill Oakes said.
Consider:
Magna Vista outscored Tunstall 41-11 in the second quarter to lead by 29 points at intermission. Eight minutes later, the Warriors' lead was nine.
Magna Vista got hot again in the fourth quarter and outscored the Cavaliers 42-33. There have been instances this year when two Timesland teams went the entire game and couldn't match the points put up in the fourth quarter by those two teams.
Magna Vista fired in 50 of 84 shot attempts (59.5 percent), and Tunstall made 39 of 73 (53.4 percent). However, the losing Trojans made 12 of 26 (46.1 percent) from 3-point range to the Warriors' 3-of-5 (60 percent).
"I felt [Magna Vista would] make a run and we had to be prepared," Young says he told his kids at half.
The Magna Vista coach never dreamed what kind of a run it would be. "We'd come down and get a two; they'd get a three. We'd get fouled, make a shot and they'd come back to make a three," he said.
Oakes couldn't believe it, either.
"We had turned the ball over 20 times in the second quarter against their press and they turned 18 of them into points," he said.
"Then we regrouped and, with two minutes left in the third quarter, we're down seven. We missed a layup that would have made it a five-point game. All heck broke loose in the fourth quarter again and they killed us . . . ."
Young says foul problems caused his team to go to a zone defense and extend it.
"We knew they had some good shooters, but they made some 3-pointers that were NBA range," he said. "It got to the point that when they shot a 3-pointer, I felt they would make it. They were on fire."
Oakes, whose nickname is "Wild Bill," says he got his first technical in three years. "I'd been as nice on the sidelines as I could be, but sometimes you just can't" continue.
Young, never one to run up a score, said, "You never want to score 100 points on a team. We had to do it in self-defense for the way they shot."
\ Patrick Henry point guard Troy Manns didn't start Tuesday's game against Franklin County, but he did enter the contest near the end the first quarter and scored 16 points in guiding the Patriots to an 82-70 victory in their regular-season finale.
Officials of Patrick Henry would not say if Manns' being replaced in the starting lineup had anything to do with the incident after the Patriots' game against William Fleming, when Colonels' coach Burrall Paye accused Manns of making offensive remarks toward him.
"As far as Patrick Henry is concerned, the problem is resolved," PH principal Dr. Betty Lee said.
Manns' mother, Gloria, said only, "We don't question any of [PH coach Woody] Deans' coaching decisions."
\ Pulaski County's boys' basketball team encountered problems at Bluefield, W.Va., two weeks ago, and conduct by the home fans left a bitter taste with Cougars coach Pat Burns.
Bluefield athletic director Ron Kanipe, who was at the game, said his "main concern was that the officials didn't do a good job of controlling the game and that it could have gotten out of hand."
Burns says the fans directed offensive remarks at his team and vows never to play Bluefield again.
Kanipe said the alleged incident will not interrupt the resumption of the schools' football series this fall; the series had been canceled because of a similar incident at a game four years ago.
"Both schools are trying to avert a [bad] situation in football. Financially and competitively, it's a good game for both teams," Kanipe said.
| Noting Timesland:
Injuries have taken out key players for two Timesland teams.
Pulaski County's girls' basketball team has lost starting freshman guard Carrie McConnell for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. She had averaged 7.2 points for the Cougars.
Martinsville's second-leading scorer, Maurice Spencer, an All-Piedmont District player, also is gone for the year after breaking the index finger on his left hand.
Spencer, a junior who was on the Timesland Sizzlin' Sophomores team last year, was averaging 12.1 points. He has been a key member of the Bulldogs' varsity since he was a part-time starter as a freshman.
Rudy Turner, a starting forward at Western Branch in Chesapeake, has been reinstated to the team. Turner had been suspended when he pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. The case has been reopened and will go to trial in March.
Turner allegedly made unauthorized withdrawals from the checking account of Deep Creek basketball coach Harry Rest by using Rest's automatic teller machine card.
Turner played at Deep Creek last year, then transfered this season to Western Branch. He lived with Rest with permission from Turner's mother.
According to Sovran Bank records, there were 28 withdrawals totaling $4,495 made from Rest's account that were not authorized. Turner was originally identified through photos taken by bank cameras as the person making the withdrawals.
Rest has retained a lawyer and refuses comment on the case.