ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
Last year's championship game of the NationsBank Holiday Hoops Classic was replayed as a first-round game this time around, and with nearly similar results.
Defending champion Riverside High School of Durham, N.C., scored the game's first nine points and went on to take down Northside 70-55 Thursday to earn a berth in the semifinals at 6 tonight against Glenvar. The Vikings will face Cave Spring at 2 p.m. in a consolation contest.
The Pirates didn't have it quite as easy as last year when they overwhelmed the Vikings 70-50 in the finale. Still, Riverside (7-1) was in control all the way on the Salem Civic Center floor, despite the fact it couldn't shake the pesky Vikings.
Northside (0-5) stayed within shouting distance, but couldn't muster a rally. That's because the Pirates kept going inside during the second half to Mark Green and Antoine Morman, who combined for 33 points.
Riverside did what it wanted to, hitting 29 of 45 shots, including all nine attempts in the third quarter. The bigger team also dominated the boards 32-12.
``I thought we also did a good job getting it inside and I thought we did the best job we've done all year executing,'' said Northside coach Billy Pope, whose team is off to one of its slowest starts during his coaching regime.
The Vikings didn't wither under Riverside's opening barrage as Green hit two inside shots, Morman added a layup and Greg Hicks hit a 3-pointer.
``We felt like the only way we used our height advantage the first half was getting the offensive rebound,'' said Riverside coach Larry Parrish. ``So we tried to go inside the second half.''
Riverside played a lot of people against the Vikings. ``We wanted to do that, but it sometimes interrupts your continuity,'' said Parrish.
Northside made only 18 of 39 shots, which didn't help when there were few second chances. Daryl Holmes scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half before fouling out.
``I know they shot well, but we had our hands up and checked them. Once we settled down, we showed some real poise and this game should help us,'' said Pope.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB