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

DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995            TAG: 9502080642
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   64 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** Antoine Willie, a basketball player at Nansemond River, had his first name misspelled in a story and headline in Wednesday's editions. Correction published in The Virginian-Pilot on Thursday, February 9, 1995, on page C6. ***************************************************************** ANTWAN WILLIE: NANSEMOND RIVER HE SET SUFFOLK SCORING RECORD WITH 52 POINTS

Nansemond River's Antwan Willie didn't eat an extra bowl of Wheaties or do anything differently before last Friday night's game.

``It was just my same regular game,'' Willie said.

Same regular preparation, perhaps. Same regular execution. But same regular results?

Not hardly.

Willie, a 6-foot Nansemond River sophomore who leads the Bay Rivers District in scoring at 28 points per game, exploded for a city-record 52 points in the Warriors' 112-65 demolition of Smithfield.

That came three nights after he rung up York for 27 points, garnering Willie selection as The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star Boys Athlete of the Week.

The old city record for points in a game was 51 set by Suffolk High's Tony Smith in 1988.

``It was great to score that many points. . . that's my record now and that might not ever happen again,'' Willie said.

The only thing that could have prevented Willie from getting the record was an early seat on the bench.

Bucky Payton, the Nansemond River public address announcer, made sure everyone - including Warriors coach Spencer Mayfield - was aware of the situation.

``I was aware of it (the record),'' Willie said. ``But I didn't know if he (Mayfield) was going to leave me in to break it.''

His concern was well founded.

``I was ready to pull him from the game,'' Mayfield said of Willie. ``I didn't know how many points he had. Then the kids started in with `Leave him in coach, see if he can break the record.'

``Then one of my assistants told me what he needed to do, so I left him in there.''

Willie pulled up on the left side to attempt the 3-pointer that would break the record, but he was fouled.

Mayfield then sent Willie's replacement to the scorer's table.

``He knew that if he didn't make those shots he wasn't going to break the record,'' Mayfield said.

Willie drained the shots.

Friday night wasn't Willie's only highlight of the week. Nansemond River, ranked No. 1 in the state in Group AA, trailed York, 27-26, at the half when Willie took over.

He scored 23 points in the second half and the Warriors won easily.

Just another regular game.

``Just shoot, play defense and hustle,'' Willie said. ``That's all I do.'' by CNB