THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080674
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Sebastian Yates spent the majority of the game in foul trouble and was the Nansemond River Warriors' target all night.
But it was Yates who hit the bull's-eye when he scored the go-ahead bucket with 22 seconds left to lift Lakeland to a 54-52 upset of top-ranked Nansemond River on Tuesday night at Lakeland.
``It's like winning the state championship . . . it means so much,'' Yates said.
The loss prevented the Warriors from clinching at least a share of the Bay Rivers District title.
With three games to play, Nansemond River, which is ranked No. 1 in the state Group AA poll, is 152 overall and 10-1 in the district.
Lakeland, 11-3 overall, remains tied for second with Southampton at 8-3.
With the Warriors leading, 52-51, a jump ball was called with 36 seconds remaining and the possession arrow favored Lakeland. The Nansemond River bench disagreed with the call.
Amid the controversy over who had the ball, the Cavaliers used their final timeout to set up the game-winning play.
They call it the ice-0-3, ``which is basically using Yates on the wing isolated one-on-one with anybody,'' Lakeland head coach John Fuller said.
Yates beat Antoine Willie into the lane and drove for the layup to give Lakeland a 53-52 edge.
The Warriors still had time to set up a scoring opportunity, but the Cavaliers defense held tough until Damon Tillery fouled Maurice Fofana with 12 seconds left.
Fofana missed the front end of a one-and-one and the battle for the rebound resulted in another jump ball, giving the Warriors the ball back.
Fofana passed the ball down the left sideline to Willie, who couldn't control the ball and tipped it out of bounds with 10 seconds to play.
Nansemond River then sent Tillery to the line, where he hit the front end of a one-and-one to account for the final margin.
``It feels good to beat the No. 1 team in the district,'' Brian Baker said. ``We were determined not to lose here at our place, and we wanted to remain in second place.''
Yates picked up his third foul early in the second period and didn't return to the game until less than three minutes remained in the first half. From that point on the Warriors were all over Yates to try to draw the fourth. They never did.
``We knew that somebody else was going to have to step up,'' Baker said. ``Herman Knight stepped up in the second half, and we played good defense.''
Knight scored a pair of key baskets and Baker added a 3-pointer during an 11-2 run to close out the third period and tie the game at 38.
``Our game plan coming in was defense,'' Fuller said. ``We wanted to look inside and try to drive down low and penetrate. That was our game tonight, that and defense. We thought if we could take away (Montoria) Valentine and Willie, we had a chance to win the game.''
The defense of Antoine Riddick and Amon Cross kept district scoring leader Willie down to 18 points and Valentine to 15.
Yates led Lakeland with 14 points.
Southampton 72, York 66: Shawn Tann scored nine points, seven on free throws, in the fourth quarter as the Indians rallied to maintain a share of second place in the Bay Rivers with Lakeland.
Tann finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Andre Jones added 12 points for Southampton (9-8, 8-3).
Brian Ginn scored 18 points for the Falcons. by CNB