THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050214
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Midnight Madness has caught on in a variety of ways - department store sales, bowling centers and especially in basketball.
Little be it for the folks at the Princess Anne Recreation Center to be left out.
The inaugural Midnight Madness Basketball Challenge was held March 24, with youngsters 13-17 hooping it up all night long.
The hoops began at 11 p.m. Friday and ended at 7 a.m. Saturday. The moonlight marathon featured a 3-point shooting contest and 2-on-2 and 5-on-5 tournaments. Thirty-two boys stayed the night.
The 3-point shootout attracted 24 competitors. In the 3-round event, each competitor had five racks of five balls each located around the long-distance arc. The first four balls counted one point each; the fifth, two points.
When the shooting stopped, Byron Whitehead, 17, had hit for 18 points to take the title. Derrick Lemaster, 16, finished second with 14 and Billy O'Hare placed third.
The Associates - Jerome Lauzon and Mike Carney, both 17 - won the half-court, 2-on-2 by beating the Michigan Wolverines, 8-6. Sixteen teams played in the double-elimination format. Pieri Burton and David Cox formed the Wolverines.
In the early morning finale - the 5-on-5 competitor - Pieri got his revenge. He teamed with Angel Conde, Demetrius Alexander, Jason Darby, Jeb Cater and Jermaine Lauzon. Their team - the Maniacs - (hey, you gotta be a little crazy to be running full-court at 6 a.m.) beat the Tarheels, 19-14, to win the competition. Tarheel players were Jon Scott, Richie Davis, Malik Lewis, Billy O`Hare and Kelly Grimstead.
No doubt the boys slept well when they finally went home.
Mike Leigh, who works in athletics at PA and is only tiny bit past 17 himself, stayed all night to supervise the event.
ALSO AT PRINCESS ANNE: The center hosted a 1-Mile Fun Walk as part of its first anniversary celebration.
The walk was divided into age groups for 18-over; 13-17; 12-and-under, although nobody participated in the 13-17 group.
In 18-over, 39 contestants participated, while the 12-under bracket had 13.
Pat Thompson, 52, negotiated the mile in 11:18 to win the 18-and-up. Kelly Ramsdale, 45, took second with a time of 11:35, one minute ahead of Benjamin Key.
Patrick Jones, 12, recorded the fastest time of the day, 11:17, in winning the 12-and-under competition. Eleven year-old Jennifer Downing and Zachary Candler, 9, finished second and third.
Princess Anne Elementary School won a plaque for having the most participants, eight, in the walk. by CNB