Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290253
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NORTHSIDE ELIMINATES ALLEGHANY
Pressure has always been part of Northside's game plan, and luckily for the Vikings on Friday night at the Salem Civic Center, the defense was there when the offense wasn't.For three quarters, the district regular-season champions couldn't shake out of a shooting slump or pull away from third-place Alleghany. Down the stretch, though, the defense spurred the offense and Northside overcame the Mountaineers 66-55 in the semifinals of the Blue Ridge District boys' basketball tournament.
The Vikings (18-4) will play Lord Botetourt tonight at 8:30 at the Salem Civic Center for the tournament title. The Cavaliers beat Salem 78-70 in the other semifinal game.
At times in the second half, it looked as if the Mountaineers (11-11) might be in the title game instead. After falling behind by eight points in the fourth quarter, Alleghany took advantage of four straight missed shots by the Vikings and pulled to 44-42 with 5:50 remaining.
That's when Northside's pressure took over. The Mountaineers didn't get off a shot over the next 1:45. Instead, they turned over the ball three times and committed four fouls.
"That's our regular game - defense first," forward Matt Hill said. "They have a good team and we knew they'd come out strong. We weren't playing up to our abilities at first. We got it up there in time. All we did was work on our game."
The work also paid off on the offensive end for the Vikings. Seven straight points - five on free throws - gave them a 51-42 lead.
"We just kept doing the same stuff [offensively]," said Jimmy Porter, who had four points, including the lone basket, during the surge. "We just kept running the offense. And we got good shots."
Once the Vikings' offense started working, it spelled doom for Alleghany. Northside outscored the Mountaineers 22-13 in the final 5:50. The Vikings shot 60 percent in the quarter after not making more than one-third of their shots in any of the three previous periods. Porter scored eight in the quarter, Walt Derey six and Hill four.
"We just couldn't hit anything the first three quarters," said Derey, who finished with a team-high 16 points. "But we just kept putting it up. And finally they started to fall."
It was a good thing for Northside that it found its offensive touch because until the six-minute mark, Alleghany had outshot and outrebounded the Vikings.
Only Northside's defense prevented the Mountaineers from taking command. The Vikings forced 10 turnovers in the first period, 16 in the first half, and 26 for the game.
"I told them at halftime they were backing up," Alleghany coach Jimmy Smith said. "The way Northside was playing defense, they had us playing defense when we were on offense. But we became more aggressive. That's what happened at the start of the second half. And it got us back into it."
The Mountaineers scored six points in the first minute of the third quarter, pulling to 27-26, and they took a short-lived lead of 32-31 at the 3:20 mark.
In the final 2 1/2 minutes of the quarter, the Vikings opened a four-point edge. They expanded that to eight before Alleghany cut it down to two on its final run.
"You can't keep on making runs when you have to press the entire second half," Smith said.
Todd Wheatley led the Mountaineers with 16 points. \
see microfilm for box score