Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 2, 1994 TAG: 9403020089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BASSETT LENGTH: Medium
In a game of contrasting halves Tuesday night, the Vikings beat the Minutemen 72-61 to advance to a Region III semifinal Thursday against Martinsville at Bassett High Schhool.
Consider that Northside hit eight of 14 3-point shots in the first half and led 45-22 at intermission.
Then it was the Minutemen's turn. Liberty knocked down six of eight 3-point attempts in the final 16 minutes, used a fullcourt press defense and three times had a chance to cut Northside's lead to four.
Finally, Northside sophomore Justin Porterfield created one turnover and had a steal to thwart Liberty's rally.
Senior Nathan Hungate also converted six consecutive free throws in the final 1 minute, 5 seconds to help the Vikings (20-4) put some space between themselves and Liberty (16-5).
The Minutemen had given up on their press in the Seminole District tournament last weekend.
"We played all year like that [with the press]," said Mark Hanks, Liberty's coach. "Then we were giving up too much easy stuff and were not rotating on defense.
"But we were definitely not going to let them sit out there and play H-O-R-S-E in the second half."
After intermission, the Vikings were 0-of-2 from 3-point range.
"When we hit our 3s, it opens up our inside game. So they stopped our inside game," Hungate said. "We knew they were a good team and and that they'd have a good second half. They weren't going to be blown out of a game, so we had to hit our free throws."
Hungate did just that by making 15 of 16 in the game.
It wasn't apparent early in the second half that Liberty would rally. Northside missed its first nine shots of the third quarter, but the Minutemen also weren't on fire.
Then Liberty guards Greg Reynolds and J.J. Coles started pumping in 3-pointers.
"I had to play harder, but I knew we could get back in the game," Coles said.
"We were getting blown out, so we just had to play like we had every game during the season," Reynolds said.
Meanwhile, Northside coach Billy Pope tried timeouts to stem the Liberty rally.
"At this point in the season, there's nothing you can tell them except we have a six- or eight-point lead and that we'd be fine," Pope said. "Believe me, no one was celebrating at halftime. We shot lights-out the first half and were glad to have a cushion. We needed it."
Northside hit 15 of 34 shots in the opening half compared to 9-of-31 accuracy for Liberty. It was apparent early that the Vikings, who had been to the Region III Tournament as recently as two years ago, were used to the pressure and Liberty wasn't.
"Nerves," Hanks said. "You can't do anything about it, you can't experience it. We told our players, but they spent the first half complaining. We told them it would be physical.
"We go over to Salem, and they have 5,000 for the district tournament. We had maybe 1,000 people."
This game turned for the last time in the final three minutes. Northside's lead was 62-56 after Hungate made a free throw with 2:56 left.
First, Liberty turned over the ball. After Porterfield missed a shot, he created a second consecutive turnover by the Minutemen. Then, Hungate was called for an offensive foul after Pope elected to go to a delay game.
This time, Porterfield came up with a steal, and with barely a minute left, Liberty had to foul. Hungate then settled the game at the line.
For the game, Northside hit 19 of 54 shots, but made 26 of 32 free throws. It was a game settled at the line, where Liberty made only five of 11.
The Minutemen connected on 24 of 58 from the field, including 15 of 27 in the second-half rally.
Porterfield and Hungate combined for 43 points, and Maurice Garrison was Northside's only other double-figures scorer with 10.
Liberty was paced by Reynolds with 25 points and Coles with 15. Northside, though, got the edge on the boards 40-39, but the taller Minutemen blocked six shots, including four by Bruce Jacobs.
Memo: Slightly different version ran in New River Valley edition.