Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992 TAG: 9203140348
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Still the Vikings found a way to get to Charlottesville and the final four of the Group AA high school tournament, holding off Blacksburg 52-50 Friday in a quarterfinal game at Christiansburg High.
Northside (21-5) will meet the winner of today's Matoaca-Culpeper game in next Friday's semifinals at 2:45 p.m.
Matt Hill's 3-point goal with 2:32 remaining provided the winning points as the Vikings took a 51-50 lead. It was the first time Northside had been ahead since midway through the third quarter, but it was only the second time in 15 attempts the Vikings had connected on a 3-pointer.
Worse, Northside made only six of 19 free throw attempts. After going successfully to 6-foot-5 Walt Derey for an early lead, the Vikings encountered a wall of Blacksburg defenders around their center and fell behind by seven points late in the third quarter.
"It's a credit to our guys that rather than pout, drop their heads or complain about things, they kept working on defense," Northside coach Billy Pope said. "We found a way to win and that's been the story of this group all year."
Hill wanted the ball for what turned out to be the game-winning play.
"I don't think I was thinking about anything," he said. "I didn't think [twice] about taking the shot because, when you do that, you usually miss."
After that, Northside's defense had to take over because the Vikings missed four free throws that could have removed all doubt about the outcome. Blacksburg's Kevin Schug missed a short jumper, but the Vikings' Jim Porter failed on two free throws.
Hill got a steal and Derey was fouled with 49 seconds left. But he made only one of two free throws for a 52-50 lead. Then Blacksburg's Darren Morton, who led all scorers with 22 points, missed a short jumper that Derey rebounded.
Nathan Hungate, who earlier had a steal and a layup to start Northside's rally when the Vikings were down 47-42 with 6:42 left, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14 seconds remaining.
Down to its last chance, Blacksburg went to Morton after a timeout. He fired a short jumper that rolled over the rim and left the Vikings with the victory.
"I had the option of taking it all the way in, dishing off or going for the jumper," Morton said. "I was open, but I was off-balance and I couldn't get the shot to fall."
Northside expected Blacksburg to go to Morton.
"He's one of the quickest and trickiest players we've gone against," Pope said. "I was just hoping he wouldn't pull up for a three. You can do just so much in that situation and then hope it doesn't go in. It would have been an upset if he hadn't got a shot off."
The Vikings' poor outside shooting was a result of Blacksburg's hounding defense. Northside was forced to go for the long shot when the Indians started covering Derey.
"They were dropping down their guards from the top," Derey said. "I would pitch it back to Matt and he'd kick it back. That loosened it up a bit."
Not enough, though, for Derey. After scoring 14 points in the opening half, he took only four shots from the field in the second half. Jimmy Porter, the Vikings' other big man, got only seven shots for the game.
"All we did was go to a little matchup inside," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "At the first part of the game, we wanted to see if they would try to go inside. We couldn't handle him, so we put some more people around him. If they hit from the outside, they hit."
Blacksburg led 50-44 after Hungate's steal against Morton. Then Northside's defense kicked in, allowing only five fourth-quarter points and forcing Blacksburg to miss its final six shots.
"At that point, we didn't need to shoot the ball," Trear said. "But we put it up because no one was guarding us a couple of times. That's the players' choice. You put the ball in their hands and give them some options."
Blacksburg's Jon Maher had 17 rebounds to lead the Indians to a whopping 42-24 rebounding advantage. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB