Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210082
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
GREG SHOCKLEY IS THE INDIANS' 3-POINT STANDOUT
Blacksburg High School sophomore guard Greg Shockley keeps his distance from the basketball hoop.Never closer than 19 feet 9 inches does he get.
Shockley is shooting 21-for-25 from behind the arc, and hasn't scored from two-point range yet - he's only attempted two.
"Other teams might read this and think he won't drive to the bucket," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "He can. I see him do it in practice all the time."
Shockley hit four three-pointers in a 76-61 New River District opener against Radford on Friday night.
"That was the first game we have shot real well from outside," Shockley said. "We have two strong guys who can handle the inside [Jay Safford and Ben Araman] and Radford went to the zone to stop them and so that left the outside shot open."
Shockley's four treys on Friday night sparked the Indians to their 17th straight New River District win and their 12th straight victory over the Bobcats.
On a night when Shockley said the basket looked "very big," he helped Blacksburg jump to a 23-10 first-quarter lead.
"If they can hit the three it certainly gives the shooter confidence," Trear said.
"It gets the team on track and helps them go. But there were a lot of twos in between the threes."
Forward Ben Araman was one of those interjecting twos, 14 points worth in the first half, en route to a game-high 22 points. That forced Radford into a sagging zone defense.
Shockley's first trey came at the 5:15 mark in transition off of a missed Radford shot giving Blacksburg a 7-4 lead.
About a minute later, after the teams exchanged a pair of free throws, Shockley drained another three-pointer that gave the Indians a 12-6 lead.
His third three-pointer was a dandy one: He dribbled past midcourt and realized he was completely unguarded. He took two strides and about a half strut and let fly from about 21 feet out with 1:43 remaining in the first period.
Swish and kaplunk. The swish was the ball going through the net and the kaplunk was Radford's chances of coming back into this game.
"I was surprised that I was that open," Shockley said.
"I had time to sit there and look at the basket and think of whether or not I was going to shoot."
Said Radford's Coach Brenda King, "We definitely didn't expect them to shoot that well from outside. But you can't leave him all alone out there."
He nailed his fourth and most impressive three-pointer of the night after Radford's Chris Hairston made a layup with four seconds remaining.
Shockley took an outlet pass and streaked down the right-hand lane and made a one-handed flyer at the buzzer with Hairston defending him like a blanket.
That put the Indians up 59-45.
"I just wanted to get a good shot, but it didn't turn out to be a good shot at all," Shockley said.
"A lot of luck went into that shot I guess."