THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995                TAG: 9501080219
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C12  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

TALLWOOD CHOPPED DOWN BY LAKE TAYLOR THE LIONS WERE ABLE TO CONNECT ON ONLY FOUR OF 19 3-POINT ATTEMPTS IN LOSS TO TITANS.

Live by the three, die by it.

That's what happened to Tallwood in a 68-55 loss Saturday to Lake Taylor.

The Lions shot 19 treys, making only four. But it was in the third quarter that the long-range shooting hurt Tallwood most. Down by only six at the time, the Lions missed all seven of their attempts from beyond the arc - five on consecutive possessions.

Meanwhile, ninth-ranked Lake Taylor (7-1) was building a 16-point lead heading into the final period.

``Hey, they died by it,'' Titans forward Darnell Whitaker said. ``They really hurt themselves with it. You're supposed to go inside then outside.

``They went outside most of the night and finally went inside when it was too late.''

Lake Taylor built its lead to 19 early in the fourth quarter before No. 7 Tallwood finally went inside. But by then, it was too late.

``Hey, I wasn't real happy about the way we shot (the 3-pointers),'' Tallwood coach Johnny Pope said. ``But we'll live with it. We used it when maybe we shouldn't have and we used it when we were down.''

Titans coach John Kelly felt like the Lions' legs were tired from three games in five days.

``They played a tough district game last night (against Kellam) and I really think that was a factor in their performance tonight,'' Kelly said. ``It certainly had something to do with the way they were shooting.''

Realizing their opponents were struggling, the Titans went inside to Whitaker on five of 10 third-quarter possessions. Whitaker responded with with eight of his 14 points.

``We think of team first, individual second,'' Whitaker said. ``We think of our teammates and they were able to find me.

``(Tallwood's) press didn't bother us that much because we see presses half of the year.''

Reggie Hawkins led the Titans with 18 points, while Toni Harrell added 14 and Deshawn Hendrick 11.

Lions point guard Rian Everett continued his fine play of late, heading all scorers with 19 points. Neil Roberts and Jake Lovelace each added 11 for Tallwood (7-1 overall). by CNB