Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502280040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chris Childress lived his ``SportsCenter'' highlight Saturday night:
The Blue Ridge District Tournament final. Northside vs. William Byrd. Overtime. 69-69. One-tenth of a second left. Childress at the free-throw line.
OK, he missed the first. But the second was - as Dan Patrick would say - ``nothing but the bottom of the net,'' lifting William Byrd over the Vikings 70-69 at the Salem Civic Center.
The Terriers (20-4) will play Liberty on Tuesday in their Region III Tournament opener at the Salem Civic Center.
Northside (17-7) already had earned the top seed and a bye in the Region III first round as the district's regular-season champion.
Childress, the district's player of the year, scored 17 points and was one of four Terriers in double figures. Mike McGuire had a team-high 22, Mayo Wilson scored 13 and Jeremy Obenchain 11.
``With Chris at the line, I felt confident,'' said Paul Barnard, Byrd's coach. ``In fact, I was disappointed he didn't make both. That's how much confidence I have.''
The Terriers led 39-28 at halftime with help from Wilson, who was 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Byrd took a 16-point lead, 46-30 on a 3-point play by Obenchain with 4:36 left in the third period.
But Northside outscored the Terriers 10-3 to pull to 49-40 at the end of the quarter. Maurice Garrison then scored six consecutive points to open the fourth quarter for the Vikings and make it 56-53.
Northside continued to chip away. Ben Peete had two 3-pointers, including one with 21 seconds left that sliced the Byrd lead to one, 63-62.
McGuire was fouled on Byrd's next trip down the floor and made both to push the lead back to three, but Northside reserve forward Sam Barrett scored on a 25-foot, running 3-pointer with five seconds left that sent the game to overtime.
Childress and Obenchain scored the first four points of overtime to make it 69-65. But Garrison added two free throws, then a put-back with 1:18 left to tie it.
Byrd held the ball until 23 seconds remained before calling time out.
The Terriers came out and swung the ball around to Obenchain, who missed a 10-foot jumper on the baseline. Childress went up for the rebound and was fouled hard by Peete just before the buzzer sounded, setting up his heroics.
``I wanted to be at the line, not to be the hero, but because I have confidence in myself,'' said Childress, a 75-percent free-throw shooter going into the game. ``All I could think of was the team and how hard they played all game. I couldn't let them down.''
Garrison led Northside with 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field. Peete added 22 points and Porterfield had 10. Dana Gibson had four blocked shots.
WILLIAM BYRD (70)
Obenchain 4 1-1 11, McGuire 8 5-7 22, Childress 6 5-8 17, Wilson 4 1-1 13, Tuck 0 7-8 7, Bryant 0 0-1 0. Totals 22 19-26 70.
NORTHSIDE (69)
Garrison 9 7-8 25, Peete 8 4-5 22, Porterfield 3 1-2 10, Thompson 0 3-4 3, Gibson 2 0-0 4, Barrett 2 0-0 5. Totals 24 15-19 69.
William Byrd 23--16--10--16---5 - 70
Northside 20---8--12--25---4 - 69
Three-point goals: Obenchain 2, McGuire, Wilson 4, Barrett, Peete 2, Porterfield 3. Team fouls: William Byrd 17, Northside 17. Fouled out: Peete.
by CNB