Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993 TAG: 9303050149
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
GATE CITY ROLLS PAST INDIANS IN REGION IV
Blacksburg's Greg Shockley summed up the 74-59 thumping his team took from Gate City in a Group AA Region IV boys' basketball tournament semifinal Thursday night."They did about everything right," Shockley said. "They just shot the lights out. We'd be in their face and they just kept making everything they threw up."
Meanwhile, the Indians did just about everything wrong. "We buried ourselves," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "Every time we made a mistake they would come back and make us pay."
The Indians were hurt by 11 turnovers in the first half, seven of them in the second quarter.
"They dominated all over us," said Jay Safford, who led the Indians with 18 points. "In the first half we didn't play team ball. We took shots we shouldn't have and the turnovers killed us."
Gate City used the Indians' most deadly offensive weapon to spark the fire - timely 3-point shots.
Shannon Carter nailed a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to give the Blue Devils a 20-17 lead. Then Carter, who scored 12 points, drained another trey that made the score 23-17 seven seconds into the second period.
From a 17-17 tie, a 24-7 run by the sizzling Blue Devils left Blacksburg behind at halftime 41-24.
The Blue Devils' defense, a 2-3 zone for most of the first half, covered Blacksburg like a shadow and nearly every shot the Indians (12-11) took in the first half was off-balance, hurried, awkward or forced.
"Teams have a tendency to continue to do the same things that got them behind instead of taking a deep breath and taking care of business," Trear said.
Blacksburg's deep breath came in the third, but it was followed by a collective gasp.
Aided by 12 Gate City turnovers and two 3-pointers by Mike Dowdy, the Indians outscored the Blue Devils 16-6 to cut the deficit to 47-40 with three seconds left in the third period.
By then the Indians had used all their energy and Gate City took advantage of desperate plays by the Indians to pull away.
"At the end there our players were out of breath and we had some tired bodies," Trear said. "A lot of times you get down like that and you don't have the fight left in you. They brought it back a long ways."
Gate City's Jason Jones and Scotty Vermillion tied for game-high scoring at 21.
Gate City (16-4) will play host to Virginia High on Saturday night for the regional final. Virginia High (16-7) got 25 points from Tony Davenport and beat Tazewell 43-22 at Bristol. \
see microfilm for box score