THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502180751
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Nansemond-Suffolk Academy entered its Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools semifinal against Cape Henry with a darned good game plan.
And it worked for 3 1/2 quarters.
But even though they were up by 12 with four minutes left to play, the Saints ended up needing a spectacular running one-hander in the lane from Tim Dougherty to come away with a 48-46 victory over the top-seeded Dolphins on Friday at Catholic High.
No. 4 Nansemond-Suffolk will face second-seeded Catholic in tonight's 7:30 p.m. final at Catholic. The Crusaders edged Norfolk Academy, 60-54, in the second semifinal.
Nansemond-Suffolk's plan was to contain the league's top scorer, Cape Henry's Kinte Smith, with a diamond-and-one defense. Things were going according to plan, as the Saints found themselves up, 45-33.
To that point, Smith had scored only 15 points and was obviously winded from trying to lose Saints tag-team chasers Ryan Blythe, Ben Stewart and Danny Totten.
But a minute later, it was Smith who ignited a lightning-quick comeback with two NBA-range 3-pointers. Mac Brown added a trey of his own, and with 3:18 left to play, Cape Henry (10-15) was suddenly within three.
``We came back a lot this year and we knew we could do it again,'' said Smith, who finished with 21. ``But they sure played great defense on us.''
After a missed shot by the Saints (18-6), Ben Dease took an inside feed from Brown for an easy basket to cut the lead to one. Dougherty then hit the front end of a one-and-one, only to have Brown nail a short baseline jumper to tie the contest with 2:20 left.
After a couple of missed opportunities by both teams, Cape Henry ended up with the ball with 43.5 seconds remaining. But Dan Cashman missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, and Nansemond-Suffolk's Paul Fleming hauled in the rebound and called time.
Dougherty - who finished with 14 - then put a nifty move on Smith at the foul line, drove in and nailed his game-winner. Smith got off a desperation shot from just inside the time line with one second left, but missed.
Saints coach Trip Hobbs wasn't a bit surprised by the Dolphins comeback.
``We were prepared,'' he said. ``Anytime you've got a player like Smith, you can come back. But I think our diamond-and-one really made a difference tonight. This was a real team win.''
Catholic's victory over Academy (7-19) was its first in three tries this season, and the way the game started out had Crusaders coach Dennis Price concerned.
Catholic (14-10) jumped out to a 21-5 first-quarter lead but had to fight to hold on.
``We had leads on them in the other two games, a big lead in one, and lost both games,'' Price said.
Catholic still maintained a 12-point cushion heading into the final period, but had to hold on at the line.
Down the stretch, Catholic was 6 for 10 with a couple of clutch baskets mixed in for good measure.
``We had confidence in our foul shooters and we spread out the offense a little on them,'' said guard Andrew Prickett, who finished with a team-high 14 points that included four 3-pointers.
Brothers Jimmy and Byron Whitehead chipped in 13 and 10 respectively.
Academy was led by Bryan Duquette's 17. by CNB