THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030259
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Churchland High's Truckers were one tick of the clock away from returning to the state Group AAA playoffs when Kecoughtan's Brett Harper invalidated their ticket.
Harper, the Warriors' 6-foot-3 senior shooting guard, scored on a rebound basket as time expired in regulation.
He then put the finishing touches on a 41-point performance as Kecoughtan won a classic Eastern Region boys basketball semifinal, 79-72 in overtime.
Kecoughtan (21-5) will meet Indian River (18-7) in tonight's final at Churchland at 7:30 p.m. Both finalists have already qualified for the state tournament and will be playing for tournament seeding.
Harper's output was three shy of J.R. Reid's tournament-record 44 points.
``It was a Brett Harper night,'' Warriors coach Revis Conrad said.
And yet Churchland (21-5) almost ruined it for Harper and the Warriors.
Kecoughtan led 45-33 midway through the third quarter and seemed poised to bury the Truckers, who were playing in front of a crowd of 3,400 on their home court.
But Churchland's D.J. Dunbar put his game into overdrive, scoring 14 points in the last 12 minutes of regulation, including a pair of timely 3-pointers.
Before the Warriors knew what hit them, Churchland led 62-60 with 1:20 remaining on a pullup baseline jumper by Dunbar, who finished with 25 points.
After Mike Holland stole an errant pass by Kecoughtan's Stanley Wilson, the Truckers had two chances to extend the lead at the free throw line. But Holland missed the front end of a one-and-one with 25 seconds remaining. After Dunbar came away with the rebound, teammate Marvin Rodgers missed the front end of another one-and-one with 18 seconds left.
``I shoot them every day and make them,'' said Holland, who had 16 points. ``I just missed it. I was hoping Marvin would make up for it.''
For the game, the Truckers were 4-for-13 at the foul line.
``We've got two 75 percent shooters at the line and they both miss,'' Truckers coach Mac Carroll said. ``I couldn't ask for a better situation. I thought we had it won.''
Instead, Kecoughtan came down court and Damon Bruce launched an off-balance 17-foot jumper with five seconds left. The ball brushed the rim and Harper retrieved it along the baseline, leaning back and banking it off the glass as the horn sounded.
Harper was 13-for-21 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and 14-for-17 from the foul line. He also had 14 rebounds and scored four baskets off rebounds.
``He hit the boards,'' Holland said. ``He didn't get a lot of his points from backing us down. But we let him get too many offensive rebounds.''
In overtime, Harper gave the Warriors a 65-62 lead just four seconds in when he took the tip from Nsilo Abraham and put a shake-and-bake move on Dunbar to start a 3-point play.
Kecoughtan led 69-64 before Dunbar was able to get off his first field goal attempt of the overtime, an off-the-mark 28-foot jumper from beyond the top of the key.
``They were everywhere D.J. went in overtime,'' Carroll said. ``They ran three different defenses on us in that overtime.'' by CNB