ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GATE CITY
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
Northside's 68-39 manhandling of Virginia High School could be summed up in one succinct description:
Porterfield drives the lane, passes the ball to Peters for the 3-point shot
The Vikings' guard tandem of Justin Porterfield and Spence Peters broke down the Bearcats' defense seemingly at will Saturday night in a Group AA boys' basketball quarterfinal at Gate City Middle School. They combined for 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting and eight 3-pointers.
Porterfield scored 15 points and dished out 11 assists, two short of the Group AA tournament record. The beneficiary of five Porterfield assists, Peters scored 19 points and connected on five 3s.
``Tonight was the best I've shot in any game this year,'' Peters said. ``Justin was doing a great job of collapsing the zone and getting me the ball. I had open shots and they were just going in.''
While the Porterfield-Peters combination was nearly enough to beat Virginia's 39 points, two other Northside players turned the contest into a laugher for Northside (17-8).
Ben Peete scored 13 points, grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and added five assists. Adam Wimmer tossed in 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor.
``We really couldn't ask for a much better performance than we had tonight,'' said Billy Pope, the Vikings' coach.
Despite Northside's 11-of-21 (52 percent) performance from beyond the arc, Pope said the 3-point shot was not a part of his game plan.
``We didn't even talk about the 3-point shot all week, and that's the truth,'' Pope said. ``We wanted to get the ball inside and get some touches on the interior.''
The Vikings took maximum advantage of their inside-outside attack, shooting 56 percent (28-of-50) from the field, while harassing the Bearcats into a 34 percent (16-of-47) performance.
``We tried a little bit of everything against them defensively,'' said Carlos Lee, Virginia's coach. ``I thought they would have to cool off sooner or later. They never cooled off, and that made it tough for us.''
Peters and Porterfield combined for 15 first-quarter points as the Vikings sprinted to a 19-7 lead, closing the quarter on an 8-0 run.
The Bearcats (15-12) cut their deficit to 10 points with 6:53 left in the opening half on Joey Roller's reverse layup, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Peete countered Roller's circus shot with a 24-foot bomb, one of his three 3-pointers on the night, and the rout was on.
Peete's shot sparked a 23-4 run that would continue into the third period, giving the Vikings a 44-15 advantage. The Bearcats, from Bristol, shot 1-of-13 from the floor in the 8:01 stretch.
The lone bright spot for Virginia was the play of Landon Kirk. The forward led the Bearcats with eight points and five rebounds.
``I'm really proud of our guys for what they have done this year,'' Lee said. ``Before the season, no one gave us much of a chance. These kids fought hard to the end. They just ran into a hot team.''
Northside advances to a Group AA semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Liberty University's Vines Center against Lakeland of Suffolk, a 74-72 winner over Fort Defiance.
``The last time we played in Lynchburg, we played pretty well,'' Pope said, referring to a 54-45 loss to top-ranked Liberty in the Region III final. ``Hopefully, we can continue to play well there.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB