Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 8, 1994 TAG: 9403080168
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One thing that kept the crowd's ears perked was the result of Northside's quarterfinal game against Blacksburg.
Early in the third quarter, even that interest ended. Northside, a team the Spartans have beaten in all five meetings this season, beat Blacksburg 67-62 to advance to a Friday semifinal against Salem at University Hall in Charlottesville.
The crowd at the Salem Civic Center knew what to do when it heard Northside won, and the loud chants of "Six in a row" began.
"There's no way we can let down against Northside," said Spartans senior guard Mark Byington, who finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-9 field-goal shooting. "It's against Northside, and it's the state semis. This game is huge."
Said Salem coach Charlie Morgan: "Being in the big dance, whoever we're up against, the kids will be ready to play. NBA teams play seven times [in a season series]. I don't think it's anything I need to talk about. We'll just play and do as well as we can."
It would have seemed difficult for Morgan and the rest of the Spartans not to start thinking about their next game. Salem (23-1) led 18-4 with 3 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the first period after hitting five of its first seven shots, and the Spartans led 51-15 at halftime.
The G-Men (15-9), the Region IV runners-up, hit five of 27 shots in the first half.
"We never did get on track," Graham coach Gary Williams said. "They just got us in that first quarter and dogged us. We never did execute our offense, but we got beat by an awful good ballclub. I told Charlie Morgan: `If you can win the state, it will take some of the sting out of this loss.' It's gonna take an awful good team to beat them."
How good?
"Aw, shoot," Williams said. "It's not even close."
The Spartans didn't let up in the second half. The Salem pressure defense, responsible for many of Graham's 28 turnovers, kept its intensity. Salem went on a 20-0 run to open the third period before Graham's Jay Gray hit a 3-pointer with 2:10 left to make it 71-18.
Salem senior center Nathan Routt chipped in 18 points and five rebounds, and junior forward Kevin Garst had 11 points.
The Spartans connected on 28 of 64 shots (44 percent), and Graham went 13-of-52 (26 percent). Salem was 28-of-45 on free throws and dominated the rebounding 32-14.
by CNB