Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LUSTERS GATE LENGTH: Medium
Take any number of pieces of standard basketball theory that the Crusaders debunk:
HOARY HOOPS NOTION: The home court advantage is worth four to six points and could well be indispensable.
CRUSADERBALL REALITY: What home court advantage? What home court? Gateway doesn't have one at school. They had two home games all season - at the Blacksburg public recreation center.
HOARY HOOPS NOTION: Practice makes perfect.
CRUSADERBALL REALITY: What practice? Gateway practices three days a week, if that. Court time at the rec center is hard to come by.
HOARY HOOPS NOTION: Honor thy coach.
CRUSADERBALL REALITY: The Crusaders certainly honor and respect second-year coach Stan Smith, but not in the same manner other teams honor and respect their bench bosses. Most teams call their coaches ``Coach.'' Gateway's players call their coach ``Shake,'' a handle he picked up years ago from his coach at Blacksburg High. The name derived from an incident when somebody dumped a milkshake on Smith.
HOARY HOOPS NOTION: Good players have been playing since they were toddlers.
CRUSADERBALL REALITY: They may have been playing since they were tykes, but probably not the same game everybody else plays. One recent day at school, a bunch of them were playing a game that resembled basketball only because it involved a ball and goal. At one end of an asphalt outdoor court, 16 boys and girls were playing a half-court game that featured eight people to a side, double-dribbling, walking, tackling and other forms of gratuitous fouling. At the other end, some boys were dunking into a netless hoop that was closer to perpendicular to the court than parallel.
No, they don't do basketball at Gateway the way they do elsewhere, but neither do they achieve similar results. Gateway (14-6) does better than that.
Two weeks ago, the Crusaders won their fourth Old Dominion Association of Church Schools state championship in 10 years. Gateway has qualified for the tournament 15 of the 16 years it has had a team.
Last weekend, Gateway won the consolation bracket of the Mid-East Regional of American Christian Schools in Hagerstown, Md., finishing up with a 75-70 double-overtime victory over Mount Carmel of Luray.
Gateway did it by flying in the face of the standard thinking in one other way: Five players did most of the playing. Depth is considered indispensable by most modern strategists; at Gateway, it's: Depth, what depth?
Most of the second-stringers are young.
``Practice is usually me and the squirts vs. the starters,'' Smith said.
As for the ironman five, junior guard Monty Pence came out of the woodwork to make the all-tournament team at the regional. Pence, usually known as as defensive specialist, produced 12 points in the consolation final.
The offensive stars all year have been forward Ryan Gordon (14.6 points per game, 12 rebounds per game), center Aaron Meadows (14.2 ppg, 10 rpg), and point guard Jay Perfater (11 ppg., 7 assists per game). Allen Surface, a freshman, is coming along nicely and scored 24 points in two games at the state tournament.
Of the six losses this year, four came against an outstanding team from Pipestem, W.Va. In each loss to Pipestem, either Gordon or Meadows was hurt. Gordon sprained an ankle. Meadows had a more exotic injury.
``I fell out of a tree stand and hurt my shoulder,'' he said.
The hunt for another state title resumes next year. Meadows and Perfater graduate this year, but Gordon will be back. All of them are veterans of the Jeff Aikens era at Gateway. Gone for two years now, Aikens was the founder of the program and the coach when the first three state crowns were won.
``We still run the same plays we did when he was the coach,'' Gordon said.
``Brother Jeff was a Dean Smith of a coach,'' said Smith, a former assistant coach. ``What little I know, I learned from him. Either that, or watching TV, man. You pick up anything you can.''
That's one more unconventional point about Gateway.
How often do you hear a coach admit not knowing something?
by CNB