Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302130237
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
INDIANS HAMMER DEMONS
By halftime Friday night, Christiansburg basketball fans were aimlessly groping through popcorn boxes, smiling at small children romping on the bleachers and stretching restlessly.Anything to ignore what was happening on the court.
Blacksburg had thrashed the Blue Demons en route to a 76-52 New River District boys' basketball victory. The win clinched the Indians' third straight regular-season district championship and a spot in the Region IV playoffs.
The Indians took advantage of 0-for-7 shooting by the Demons in the first quarter to take a 15-1 lead. Christiansburg's lone point didn't come until the :27 mark in the first period.
"We just couldn't make a thing," Christiansburg coach Gerald Thompson said. "If you can't score, you can't score."
By halftime, the game had digressed into a full-blown snoozer, with Blacksburg leading 31-12.
"It wasn't boring to me," said Blacksburg's Jay Safford, who scored a game-high 16 points. "I was really excited."
The pace of the game crawled along until a scoring frenzy in the fourth quarter. Nearly three minutes elapsed before Safford scored the first points of the game.
"Blacksburg did a good job. Safford got a couple of blocks early on. I don't know if we were intimidated or what." Thompson said. "We just played really passive."
Including Safford's two blocks, Blacksburg had four in the first quarter to add to the Demons' shooting woes.
"We just outhustled them tonight," Safford said. "The team was playing hard and rotating the ball well."
Once again it was the 3-point shot sparked the Indians. With the score 6-0, Craig Turman, Greg Shockley and Dallas Strager each drilled 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the first period.
"Then we are down double figures and we aren't a scoring team anyway," Thompson said. "So it was hard for us to come back."
The Indians (8-10 overall, 5-0 in the NRD) kept the pressure on the Demons.
"The first thing we told them was to stay focused," said Blacksburg coach Bob Trear, who was honored with the game ball, signed by all the members of his team, from his 300th win in a 20-year career on Jan. 29. "We know how easy teams can come back from those type scores. It's been done to us."
Not on this night.
By the end of the third quarter the Indians had run their advantage to 57-25 but Christiansburg (2-17, 1-4) outscored Blacksburg 27-19 in the fourth for the final margin.
Tony Bishop led the Demons with 10 points followed by Robby Gillenwater with nine, all on 3-pointers.
Blacksburg had three players in double figures. Behind Safford Craig Turman had 13 and Todd Purdue, 10.
The dates for the NRD Tournament have been set for Feb. 24-26 with junior varsity games beginning at 6 p.m. and varsity games following at 7:30 p.m.
\ see microfilm for box score