Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium
Will another Trazel Silvers show up to save the West in tonight's Virginia High School Coaches' Association East-West boys' basketball game?
The beleaguered West team, coached by Northside's Billy Pope, faces the prospect of suffering the worst loss in the 24th game of this series. Three years ago, the West was blown away 106-68. This one could be uglier.
In fact, this series has been rather ugly for the West except for a couple of victories in 1990 and 1991. Silvers, who came from Ervinton, paced the West to a big upset in 1991 as he came off the bench with his team trailing 38-21.
After Silvers scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots, he said, ``They didn't know where I was from; I guess they know now.'' Then he headed for a good career at East Tennessee State University, which signed him as a virtual unknown.
Silvers was successful because the West coaches came up with the idea of playing some of their better players with some that weren't as talented. The mismatch in the second unit showed with Silvers dominating as the East coaching staff had played all their best players on the first unit.
In the girls' game, which tips off at 6:30 p.m., the West will be shooting for its fourth straight victory. This series, though, has been much more competitive than the boys'. The East will be looking for its 12th win in 14 years in the boys' game, which starts at 8:30.
``To be honest, I haven't thought that much about it,'' said Pope about the one-sided series. ``It's a great honor for everyone involved, especially for the players. From my experience in 1992 [a 110-87 West loss], it was a lot of fun. The players were absolutely fantastic to work with.''
The reason for the pessimism surrounding this year's game is that the East has five players who have signed with Division I schools and several more who would have had they qualified. The East is led by 6-foot-9 Reggie Bassett (Old Dominion) and Marvin Rodgers (West Virginia), along with 6-3 guard Jonathan Baker (Richmond), 6-6 Nsilo Abraham (Maryland) and 5-11 Andre Quarles (VMI). There is also Petersburg's 6-9 Marco Harrison, the state player of the year, who hasn't signed.
The West has only Woodbridge's Torrey Farrington as a Division I signee. He'll attend Hampton University. For height, there is 6-7 Dana Gibson of Northside and Potomac's 6-7 Michael Neal. William Fleming point guard Derrick Hines is the West's top star, but he won't be able to do a lot about the mismatch inside.
Hampton football coach Mike Smith, who runs the VHSCA games, says it's been discussed about doing something to regain the competitive balance in basketball.
``We talked about it three weeks ago. We haven't looked at it enough for me to make an intelligent comment. All the other games are balanced, including girls' basketball. So it would be tough to change for the boys [only]. Then we might have a girl on the West squad and a boy on the East team who are from the same school,'' Smith added.
Fleming coach Burrall Paye has often been a coach in the boys' game and says any new division of talent would have to be done geographically.
``Maybe you could make the West from Richmond on over, but they say that would give us three Group AA regions [to one for the East]. It's a matter of balancing regions, but when the West had Richmond and Staunton, we were more competitive,'' Paye recalled.
``The West is usually lucky to have two or three Division I prospects and the East has 10 or 11. They just have a lot more talent Richmond on east than we have in Northern Virginia.''
Paye added the West doesn't always get its best athletes. ``Last year we wanted two athletes in the Northern Region, but they weren't nominated because their coaches didn't belong to the state coaching association.''
Still, the West was competitive because Salem's Mark Byington and Fleming's William Fitzgerald were the two best players in the game last year. When they played, the West dominated. When they sat to give others playing time, the East dominated.
``The East has been a little deeper over the years,'' said Pope. ``I know in 1992, from the top to the No.12 player, they were stronger. The all-star games have two days of preparation and because of that it lends itself to the more talented player.''
by CNB