ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603180060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY OVERCOMES tough schedule to win the Seminole District's first state boys' basketball title.
As warm as it was here Saturday, wintery thoughts were packed away along with the sleds and mittens.
Funny, then, how snow had such an impact on the Group AA basketball tournament this week.
An untimely white dumping - yet another in this winter without end - last week had forced Liberty to postpone its Group AA quarterfinal with Gate City two days until Monday. The result was three exceptionally tough and physical games in six days for the boys from Bedford.
The Minutemen handled that torture test like champions. Because of that, they are champions.
Liberty finished a remarkable run of the Group AA table when it held on to nip Lakeland of Suffolk 53-50 at the Vines Center for its first state hoops title.
Along with a 65-61 overtime victory over Gate City in which the Minutemen trailed by nine points with 2:38 to play and Friday night's 59-58 win over defending state champion Nansemond River of Suffolk, these Liberty guys have had one physically demanding week.
``We don't get tired,'' senior guard J.J. Coles said. ``It seems like we're eating sugar all the time.''
They'll be baking pies and cakes for these guys in Bedford from now until kingdom come. Boys who win the first basketball championship in town history have a tendency to work their way deep into the hearts of the citizens.
Liberty went wire to wire as the No.1 team in the state, which may indicate that the media types who vote in the poll are smarter than many give them credit for. As recently as Monday, though, Liberty coach Mark Hanks was leaving strong hints that anybody who didn't think Nansemond River was the top team around needed to have his head examined.
Yet here Liberty is, 25-0 and state champions at last. And still No.1.
``I'm a golfer,'' Hanks said. ``I have to sandbag. I knew I had the best guards in the state. In high school, it's a guards' game and I have five good ones.''
Two of them, Coles and Gregg Reynolds, have been with him for four years.
``Freshman year, we went 10-10 and lost in the first round of the Seminole District tournament,'' said Reynolds, who had six points, four assists, and four steals against Lakeland. ``We've come a long way since that.''
Actually, so has the Seminole District. The terror of the state in football and baseball, the Seminole has been the shy, retiring sort in state basketball circles and a league prone to mysterious fainting spells in the postseason. This makes the first roundball crown brought back by a league member.
Yep, it didn't use to be so much fun to play hoops in the Seminole. For that matter, it wasn't so jolly to play at Liberty.
``It wasn't very much fun to play my sophomore and junior years,'' Reynolds said. ``As a sophomore, I was the primary scorer and ballhandler and there was a lot on me. I didn't like it.
``But this year has been fun all along, every game. It's been indescribable.''
Much the same can be said for the manner in which Liberty won this tournament. For the second game this weekend, the Minutemen were badly outshot (45.8 percent to 34 percent). Similarly to the Nansemond River game, Liberty took better advantage of the free-throw line and was more jealous in its protection of the ball.
Liberty had 16 turnovers in two games compared to 34 for its two opponents and outscored them 29-10 from the stripe.
It's the kind of stuff that endears a team to its coach. Clearly, Hanks is quite fond of each of his players. With several high-profile openings at state high schools, the question arose whether Hanks would continue to coach at Liberty.
``My wife and I are going to have to sit down and talk about that, but I'm 99 percent sure I'm where I need to be,'' Hanks said.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. In top photo, Liberty Highby CNBSpanish teacher Agustin Hermosa hugs Minutemen players Neil Roop
(left) and Kevin Smith after their Group AA title game victory over
Lakeland. 2. In left photo, Liberty coach Mark Hanks paces in front
of the bench during the final moments of the contest.