THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502150579
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Cape Henry Collegiate needed to beat conference leaders Catholic and Norfolk Christian on back-to-back nights last week to gain a share of the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools regular-season title.
Knowing it would be Cape Henry's first TCIS title in boys basketball, Kinte Smith decided nothing was going to stop him.
He was almost stopped, however, when he was involved in a car accident on Virginia Beach Boulevard on his way to meet the team bus for Friday's game.
``I was pretty scared when it happened, but it was only a fender bender,'' said Smith, the Dolphins' high-scoring guard.
Unfortunately for Catholic, Smith made it to the game, where he scored 28 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter as the Dolphins won, 57-43.
On Saturday, Smith scored 36 points in Cape Henry's 65-62 overtime victory over visiting Norfolk Christian. Smith scored 22 of his team's final 24 points, including all 12 in overtime.
Smith's effort earned him selection as The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star boys Athlete of the Week.
The TCIS race ended in a four-way tie, with Cape Henry winning a convoluted tie-breaker system to gain the conference's top seed heading into the TCIS tournament, which begins today at Catholic. The Dolphins meet eighth-seeded Norfolk Collegiate at 3 p.m. in today's quarterfinals.
Smith joined the Dolphins just before midseason, ending a series of hop-skips that took him from First Colonial High to Ocean Lakes High and then to Cape Henry.
``I was playing forward at First Colonial and I'm a point guard,'' said the 6-foot-3, 170-pounder. ``So I decided to go to Ocean Lakes (the newest Virginia Beach school which absorbed part of First Colonial's attendance zone). And they wanted me to play center there.''
Smith talked to former First Colonial teammate Chris DiNunzio, who had transferred to Cape Henry. He liked what he heard about the school. Plus, Cape Henry allowed him to come in as a junior, giving him another year of high-school eligibility. He had begun the year as a senior in the public school system.
For all the points he had in the two games last week - Smith averages a TCIS-best 21.4 per game - Cape Henry coach Dave Cameron quickly pointed out that Smith did the job defensively as well.
``He held Catholic's Jimmy Whitehead without a field goal Friday night,'' Cameron said. ``And Jimmy's a good ballplayer.'' by CNB