THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503040573
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COURTLAND LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The Lakeland Cavaliers gave Bluestone everything they had for four periods, so when the game went into a fifth, Lakeland was spent.
The Barons, the No. 1 seed from the Southside District, took advantage and cruised to a 85-75 triumph in overtime in the semifinals of the Group AA Region I basketball tournament at Southampton High School Friday night.
Bay Rivers top seed Nansemond River used a 23-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to pound third-seeded Franklin, 74-52, in the other semifinal game to advance to the state tournament for the second straight year.
The Warriors will take on Bluestone tonight at 7:00 p.m. for the Region I championship.
The Cavaliers trailed, 66-62, with 1:10 left to play in regulation. Amon Cross made it 66-64 with an in-lane jumper.
Sebastian Yates stole the ball from the Barons on the ensuing play and scored to tie the game at 66 with :52 left on the clock.
Brian Baker put Tim Pulliam on the line where he drained both ends of a one-and-one to give Bluestone a 68-66 edge with :47 remaining.
John Ricks tied it up again with a lay up with 30 seconds to play. Yates had one more chance to give the Cavaliers a win in regulation when he grabbed the rebound off Alphonso Davis' missed shot, but he never got a clean shot from the lane.
The Barons opened up the overtime period with a 9-2 run and never looked back.
Lakeland led the game by as much as 11 points midway through the third period, but Bluestone responded with an 8-0 run to close the gap to 39-36.
A 9-2 run gave the Cavaliers a 10-point edge with just more than one minute to play in the third period. But in the final minute the Barons nailed three straight treys to one Lakeland bucket to end the quarter and then opened the fourth with another 3-pointer to tie the game at 50.
Yates paced the Cavaliers with 29 points and Ricks added 12.
Eric Watson and Alphonso Davis keyed the Barons with 21 and 20 points respectively.
In the late game, Franklin gave Nansemond River a bit of a scare when Linwood Joyner converted a three-point play at 4:56 of the third period to tie the game at 34.
With Antoine Willie sitting down with four fouls, Montoria Valentine stepped up and keyed the decisive 23-0 run.
Valentine scored eight points during the spurt, which also highlighted eight points from Leshawn Pugh.
``I just kept thinking about it being the last game,'' Valentine said. ``I didn't want that to be our last game. We just played good defense and boxed out on the rebounds.''
The Broncos failed to score until the 4:48 mark of the final period when Joyner hit a short jumper.
It was a far cry from the nail-biter these teams participated in last week, when a last-second shot from Willie was needed to lift the Warriors over the Sidney Gainey-led Broncos in the district tournament.
The respect the Broncos earned in that game was visible as Maurice Fofana offered Sidney Gainey some words of support while they watched Valentine attempt some free throws and the game got further and further out of the Broncos reach.
Valentine totaled 24 points on the night, while Pugh added 18, 10 of those in the second half. ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL KESTNER
Staff
Bluestone's Willie Daniel covers a shot by Lakeland's Sebastian
Yates. The Southside District's top seed beat the Cavaliers, 85-75.
by CNB