Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200064
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NO NEED TO GO ANYWHERE FOR TITAN-WATCHING
One basketball team has scored an average of 88.9 points per game and has five times cracked 100 in 13 outings. It is undefeated.The other team averages 105.8 points and has topped 100 seven times, maxing out at 147 one night. It, too, is undefeated.
One team has three former league most valuable players.
The other has six guys who average double-figure scoring.
One team has a 28-game winning streak.
The other has more dunks than a doughnut shop.
Their match-up 1 p.m. Sunday has been eagerly anticipated all season.
Who are we talking about here? Two junior colleges in Oklahoma? A pair of NAIA behemoths from Texas? A couple of teams from the Spanish professional league?
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
The answer is the two titans of the Pulaski men's league, Clark's Crew and Taco Inn. After flattening a combined 26 dazed and confused opponents, Clark's and Taco tangle with each other Sunday at the Pulaski Armory. They're even predicting a substantial audience.
To add to the suspense, the game is the regular-season finale and tournament seedings will be at stake.
"We set the schedule up so that these two teams would play the last game," league director Eddie Sutphin said. "We sort of figured these two teams would be pretty good."
Decent hunch there. Clark's has five former college players as well as a former pro. Taco has a couple of former collegians plus a guy who holds a Virginia High School League Group AAA tournament record that has stood for eight years.
Here are the marquee players for Clark's, which has been league champion five of the six years it's been in business.
David Smith, a 6-5 post player who is averaging 20.8 points per game. His 739 rebounds at Radford University ranks him second on that school's all-time list. Considered to be one of the two or three best players ever in the Pulaski league.
Jerome Brown, a 6-5 post player who averages 14.4 points per game. Played for Pulaski County High and Bluefield College.
Charles Arnold, who is also in the 6-5 range and is a former Bluefield player, averages 18 points per game. Was on the same Pulaski County High team with Mike Porter and Todd Hopkins that was the 1983-84 state runner-up.
Sam Poindexter, yet another former Bluefield player, plays guard and averages 18 points per game.
Bobby Hunter, who averages 18.4 points a game, is said to be a better player than he was several years ago at Pulaski County High, and he was no slouch then.
Dorea Jones averages 12.7 points per game.
Jodi Manns averages 10 points per game and is the first and only woman ever to have played in the league. She went to Pulaski County, then to a standout career at Hampton University, and on to the Swiss professional league. The fact that she can hang with these guys speaks for itself.
Gary Alexander coaches the team and occasionally sends himself in as a substitute.
Countering for Taco:
Aaron Merchant averages 26.7 points and has had 47- and 43-point outings. Played at Bluefield State. Made 10 3-pointers in a game and has 35 in 13 games. A leading contender for this year's MVP award, as voted on by team captains and league officials.
Angelo Webb, yet another Bluefield College alum by way of Pulaski County, averages 19.3 points per game .
Willie Porter is 6-5 and considered to be one of the league's premier dunkmeisters. He averages 17.8 points per game.
Kenny Hanks, the first guard off the bench and the team's coach, averages 15.8 points per game.
Walter Brooks is 6-4 and averages 14.7 points per game.
Chris Dalton also is a reliable double-figure scorer.
The key to the game may be how relative youngsters such as Porter and Brooks handle Clark's veteran insiders such as Smith, Brown, and Arnold.
There's no betting line, but I'm sure you can work something out.
\ Tony Wheeler of Blacksburg High has defied the odds and come back from a badly injured shoulder while the regular basketball season is still on.
In a 76-52 victory over Christiansburg, his first game back, he had seven points in five minutes - and would have had more had he not gone one for six at the free throw line. Then he had two points and nine rebounds in less than a quarter's action in a 68-41 victory over Tazewell this week.
When the 6-2 sophomore reaches full strength, he'll be a big boost for the Indians. Actually, he will even at less than full strength, as he's already shown.
Just as the Indians were getting Wheeler back, Dallas Strager sprained an ankle and probably won't return until next week at the earliest.