ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 TAG: 9702270015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: CHRIS LANG SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
A Blacksburg High School basketball player recently asked coach Bob Trear if the Indians had worn their white jerseys at any point during their Blue Ridge District tournament championship run.
"I said 'Boys, when you're a sixth-seeded team, there's no way you're wearing white. You're wearing blue from here on out.'"
And so they did again Tuesday when they took on defending Group AA champion Liberty as the Region III tournament opened. Defending champion Liberty defeated Blacksburg 68-49.
Until Tuesday, the road blues had seemed to do the Indians a bit of good. Blacksburg finished its regular season with an 8-12 record, after a 4-2 start. The Indians started their tournament run with a road trip to Lord Botetourt, with which they split in the regular season.
And in the most unlikely of fashions, a 3-pointer from Stefano Karmis won the quarterfinal for the Indians. It was unlikely because throughout their tournament run, the Indians attempted just two shots from behind the arc.
"We didn't take but two 3-pointers in the whole tournament," Trear said. "I don't even think we took one at all against [William] Byrd."
The Indians are an inside oriented team. They have an all-star center in Philip Klaus who leads the team in scoring and rebounding while taking most of the district individual honors including player of the year.
Along with Klaus inside is junior forward Matt Maher, who was second on the team in scoring and rebounding.
"There are a few more people on this team that do some things that don't get noticed quite as much as Philip does," Trear said. "Matt Maher, he's inside in the post with Philip. He's our second leading scorer and rebounder, but if you asked most people, they wouldn't know that."
Guards Randy Cross and Krishna Pacifici and Karmis are also important members of a role-oriented team.
"It was all of the pieces fitting together," Trear said. "Everybody has his role. They just played their roles and did their jobs in the tournament."
So, the question remains, how did this sixth-place team beat the top three teams in the district and win the tournament title? Where did they come from?
The Indians were two totally different teams before and after Christmas break. Before the vacation, the Indians handed Graham, the state's No. 7-ranked Group AA team, a hefty whipping on its home floor. It was Graham's only loss of the season.
Then Christmas came. The Indians were 2-0 in the Blue Ridge, but the break from basketball seemed to cause problems.
"I can't look into their minds," Trear said. "For some reason, we came back with a different attitude after Christmas break than before Christmas break. Something wasn't there. Some spark or pilot light or something just wasn't there."
The Indians didn't practice together for the entire break. Trear said he held a couple of practices, but at most six players showed up.
"When we left Dec. 20," Trear said. "I didn't see the full group until the night we played Christiansburg on Jan. 3."
Klaus said that the team's attitude was "lax," and there was no real intensity during its regular season lull.
That's when the Indians began to stumble. The team that had beaten Graham and Salem was then swept by Northside, the league's fourth-place team. William Byrd, which tied for first in the league in the regular season, swept Blacksburg as well.
In fact, after a 2-0 start in the league, the Indians went 3-9 the rest of the way to finish with a 5-9 league mark and the sixth-seed going into the tournament. But in the last four games of the regular season, Trear could see the fire beginning to return to his team.
"The attitude started to improve and I saw it in their play," Trear said. "That's not saying that the wins came with it. But there were only two games this season in which we were totally out of the ballpark. We were pretty close in the other ones."
No matter what happens in the Region III tournament, the Indians will remember winning the first Blue Ridge tournament in which they played.
"To me, it's something they can talk about for a long, long time," Trear said. "When you talk about your high school days, there is always something that is very memorable. This should be that for this particular group."
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF. Blacksburg's Philip Klaus drives onby CNBWilliam Byrd's Kevin Stumpin during Blue Ridge District tournament
play.