Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992 TAG: 9203070218
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM Sportswriter
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 6-foot-8 center became the top scorer in Virginia High School League history Friday and recorded a triple-double. However, it was Northside's night as the Vikings mesmerized No. 1-ranked Laurel Park with a deliberate offense and won the Group AA Region III boys' basketball championship 58-56 in overtime.
Hodge scored 28 points and now has 2,468 for his career, nine more than Steve Marsee of Pennington scored from 1973 through 1976. Hodge also pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked 10 shots.
It went for naught, though, when Northside's Jimmy Porter got a pass from Walt Derey and made a jumper from the free-throw line with one second left to give the Vikings (20-5) their first Region III title.
"It's a play where I come off a pick and they look for me," Derey said. "But I felt someone on me, so I passed it to Jimmy."
Porter said he didn't think about the shot, he just took it. "I didn't know how much time remained. I thought there were five seconds [left] and I was going back down the floor to play defense."
Hodge broke the scoring record with a pair of free throws with 6:54 left in regulation. They gave Laurel Park (22-4) a 46-45 lead, the Lancers' first since the opening quarter. The Vikings took an 8-6 lead on two free throws by Porter with 3:40 left in the first quarter, and Northside never trailed again until Hodge's free throws.
"I can't enjoy this because we lost," said Hodge. "I don't even want to talk about it."
One of the most popular athletes ever in the Martinsville area, Hodge agreed that a lot of pressure was removed when he made the free throws. The game was stopped, fans from both schools cheered Hodge and Vikings players congratulated him.
Both teams play in the Group AA tournament next week. Northside will face the loser of tonight's Region IV title game between Virginia High and Blacksburg while the Lancers catch the loser.
Hodge had brought his teammates back. He blocked three consecutive shots at one point to keep the Vikings from reclaiming the lead in the fourth quarter. He also scored three key baskets after his free throws.
Northside's strategy was clear: make the extra pass and look for the open man instead of taking the first available shot. It was typical of the strategy Vikings coach Billy Pope learned from Don McCool when Pope was a player at Mount Vernon in Northern Virginia. McCool, now an assistant at Woodbridge, perfected that type of delay game.
"When a team rebounds like Laurel Park does, your shot selection has to be great," Pope said. "We wanted to keep the game in the 60s, but we'd step it up when the opportunity was there.
"I thought of Coach McCool when he was at West Springfield and they used this against Moses Malone [of Petersburg] in the state tournament. That was going against a big guy like we had to go against tonight."
Laurel Park coach Frank Scott expected Northside's game plan, but he blamed his players for the loss.
"I think they [Northside] wanted it a little more than we did. We were too complacent," Scott said.
The Vikings' strategy nearly didn't work. Hodge scored all 10 of Laurel Park's points in the final quarter and two of the four in overtime.
Both teams had a chance to win in regulation. Aaron Burford tied the score for Northside with a minute left when he hit his third 3-point shot. Then Kelly Dampeer stole the ball as the Lancers played for a last shot. He seemed to have a layup, but Chauncey Strange came from nowhere to block it. Burford and Dampeer both got rebounds, shot and missed to send the game to overtime.
The Lancers got control to start the overtime, but Hodge was called for an offensive foul as he tried to get inside for a layup. Porter made a jumper from the circle, similar to his game-winner, to put the Vikings ahead, but Lonzy Robertson tied the score for Laurel Park on a follow shot with 2:15 left.
Matt Hill's two free throws gave Northside another lead with 39 seconds left, and Hodge tied it again 13 seconds later with a layup. That set up the Vikings' winning shot.
Laurel Park connected on 26 of 47 shots from the floor, but Hodge's only double-figure help came from Ronnie Jackson with 11 points - six in the third quarter. The Vikings made 23 of 51 from the floor after going 12-of-17 in the first half.
Northside outrebounded Laurel Park 21-17 in the second half and 29-25 for the game, with Derey getting 10 rebounds.
Hill was around when Northside tried to run with Laurel Park in last year's Region III title game and was blown away 103-81 behind Hodge's 43 points.
The Northside guard said he didn't mind the change from the Vikings' usual up-tempo game. "It wasn't tough [to switch]. At least not tonight," he said.
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB