Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 29, 1994 TAG: 9412290134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was so simple. Northside beat Cave Spring at the Knights' own game, shooting the basketball from long range.
The Vikings were gunning for the 3-pointer all night. Though the percentage was poor, the result was good for Northside as it avenged its only loss of the season with a 58-56 victory to claim the title in the NationsBank Holidays Hoops Tournament on Wednesday at the Salem Civic Center.
Northside (6-1) made seven 3-pointers with forward Chad Brammer collecting four. The Vikings attempted 26 3-pointers, while Cave Spring (6-4) converted on six of 14 attempts. .
``In the first game we played them, they were really guarding their basket [inside],'' said Northside coach Billy Pope. ``So we thought we could get the 3s off. The first half, we were 1-for-11 [from 3-point range]. But if you commit to something, you have to keep doing it.''
``They hit some big-time 3s,'' said Cave Spring coach Chris Carr. ``When you leave good shooters like Brammer and [Ben] Peete alone, that will happen. We had a breakdown in transition defense.''
The Knights, however, had a chance to win or tie at the end. James Irvin fired the last 3-pointer of the game and had it rim out into the waiting hands of Dana Gibson for Northside as the game ended.
``I thought it was going in,'' said Irvin. ``It was on line.''
Carr said the final play was to try and free leading scorer Matt Matheny inside. When Northside doubled down, ``he was supposed to fire it out. Both James and Jeff Lang were open.''
Matheny wound up with 21 points. He didn't score a point until the last minute of the first half, with Viking forward Karim Thompson playing solid defense.
``A guy like Matheny is hard to guard. He can hit the 3, drive and he has size. You can't completely shut him down. You make it as difficult as possible. Talk about offensive weapons, well Karim is a heck of a defensive weapon,'' Pope said.
``It's a lot of pressure because I know he can shoot and when Cave Spring was down, they wanted to get the ball to him,'' Thompson said.
Carr explained: ``We have a lot of weapons, so teams can't concentrate just on Matheny.''
Irvin more than made up for Matheny's early offensive problems. He scored 10 of the Knights' 12 points in the opening quarter and had 13 of his game-high 22 by halftime.
Northside opened five-point leads in both the third and fourth quarters. The Knights rallied both times and took a 51-50 lead on a layup by Matheny. The Vikings recaptured the lead for good with 3:08 left as Peete's 3-point shot made it 55-53 and then Brammer hit another one to close Northside's scoring.
The Vikings, after a layup by Irvin and free throw by Matheny, had a chance to put it out of reach. Justin Porterfield missed a one-and-one with 19 seconds left and the Knights, after a couple of timeouts, worked for its final shot.
by CNB