Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302210257
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ST. JAMES, MD. LENGTH: Medium
OAK HILL ROMPS TO TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP 91-74
The only thing close about the anticipated championship game of the St. James Invitational Tournament was elbow-to-elbow play in the crowd.Supposedly, two high school basketball teams in the nation are better than Oak Hill Academy, which closed a perfect season. So says the USA Today poll, but you would have a hard time convincing anyone in the standing-room gathering Saturday night at the 20th annual tournament.
Oak Hill, ranked behind Philadelphia Gratz and Chicago King in the USA Today rankings, shredded sixth-ranked St. John's at Prospect Hall 91-74 - a deceiving score considering the dominance by coach Steve Smith's team.
The Hall, of nearby Frederick, is 22-2 - both losses to the Warriors (30-0). Their earlier meeting in a Hawaiian holiday tournament produced a 63-59 win for the Virginia school. This time, Oak Hill's superior quickness and inside power produced the difference between two very talented teams.
"It was a great team having a great day," St. John's coach Stu Vetter said of Oak Hill's impressive night.
University of North Carolina-bound Jerry Stackhouse gave the Mouth of Wilson team control of the game in the second quarter, when he scored 14 of his game-high 31 points. Teammate and fellow UNC signee Jerry McInnis had 21 for Oak Hill. They were voted the most valuable and outstanding players in the tournament, respectively.
Smith was surprised that St. John's played up-tempo with the Warriors after using patience in the earlier meeting.
"I guess they thought they were that much better than they were in December," Smith said. "They played well at the start [a 9-4 lead], and maybe that had them pushing it. But I thought they'd crack in time."
The Vikings' Curtis Staples and Tim Basham, both from Roanoke, struggled in the final, each finishing with nine points. Sophomore Tarik Turner, from Charlottesville, led St. John's with 22 points.
The tournament brought much more than tradition and a title game between nationally ranked teams to the campus of the oldest English Episcopal boarding school in the nation.
The next time this many college coaches sit together to watch games will be in the Superdome for the NCAA Final Four.
Virginia Tech assistant Bobby Hussey and Virginia aide Dennis Wolff were making notes Saturday, adding to a three-day Division I list of 25 schools that included Kansas, Duke, Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Boston College, Weber State, James Madison and West Virginia.