ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 9, 1997.
Two high school basketball pictures in Wednesday's sports ection were
identified as Christiansburg's Mike Porter. In one picture, the player
was William Byrd's Jason Thomas; in the other picture, the player was
Christiansburg's Michael Kazee.
For a while, William Byrd guard Mayo Wilson must have felt like Custer waiting for help to arrive at Little Big Horn.
Unlike Custer, Wilson received aid. The cavalry arrived in the form of 6-foot-5 Kevin Stump, who scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half to help the Terriers pull away for a 69-53 Blue Ridge District basketball victory over Christiansburg on Tuesday night.
In the first half, Stump saw little action after picking up two quick fouls. Wilson saved Byrd with 15 of his game-high 23 points including three 3-pointers as the Terriers trailed 31-28 at intermission.
In the second half, it was all Byrd. Stump went inside for a layup to give the Terriers their first lead at 39-38 to start a 19-7 run. The flurry ended with Frank English making a couple of steals to set up scores that gave Byrd a 56-46 lead.
``My teammates got me the ball when I was open and my shots were falling,'' Wilson said of his hot first half. ``In the second half, we got it together as everyone stepped it up.''
Of course, it was nice to have Stump back with 6-5 Jason Thomas. That gave Byrd (6-4 overall, 3-1 Blue Ridge District) two big men to one - 6-6 Michael Kazee - for Christiansburg (5-3, 2-2). The teams split 30 rebounds in the opening 16 minutes, but the Terriers owned the boards 12-4 in the third quarter.
Stump wasn't fidgety sitting on the bench. ``I figured I'd come out play in the second half,'' he said. ``Our inside game wasn't going. But we have some other guys on this team who can play. Sitting on the bench helped me because I was fresh in the third quarter.''
Stump had eight points and four rebounds in the third quarter. He added 10 points in the last quarter and at one time reeled off six consecutive field goals without a miss.
The Terriers went high post to Thomas, who went low post to Stump once Christiansburg played man-to-man defense. Thomas had three assists, and Byrd finished with 15, including five from Josh Wheeler and three from Wilson.
``They manhandled my big guy to start with in the second half,'' said Gerald Thompson, Christiansburg's coach. ``But we had missed six free throws and two or three shots in the first half, or we might have been up 10 or 12 points.
``Byrd got physical and we didn't handle it as well. We had to go straight man[-to-man] and couldn't play `junk' [defense]. Byrd also started executing better.''
The Blue Demons hit 20 of 37 shots. Eric Lucas led with 16 points and for a while matched Wilson's outside shooting as he made three 3-point goals. Kazee had 12 points, but Christiansburg rebounding honors went to Lucas with seven. The senior guard also had a game-high six assists.
``Mayo kept us in the game,'' said Paul Barnard, Byrd's coach. ``I thought our other kids played well. They didn't score, but they did some other good things.
``I don't like for a guy to have three fouls at half, so that's why Kevin didn't play in the first half when he got those two personals. I was happy to come in down only three points at the half.''
Byrd made only 29 of 66 shots, but the Terriers also committed only eight turnovers to 18 for Christiansburg. Byrd finished with a 32-26 rebounding advantage.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER STAFF. 1. Eric Lucas (left) of Christiansburgby CNBand Michael Porter of William Byrd vie for a loose ball during the
third quarter Tuesday night. 2. NHAT MEYER STAFF William Byrd's Josh
Wheeler (22) soars past Michael Porter (52). color.