THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507230182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A couple of hours before Friday night's AAU/Hampton Roads Pro-Am basketball doubleheader at Hampton University, Pro-Am commissioner Wayne Hoffler was worried the event might not draw enough fans to cover the $3,300 it took to rent HU's Convocations Center.
A couple of hours later he had a different worry: how to get everyone in the door in time to see the first game.
At 7 p.m., the scheduled starting time of the first game, a pair of block-long lines snaked across the concourse outside the arena, as ticket sellers struggled to keep up with the crush of people who came to watch hometown hero Allen Iverson and NBA No. 1 draft pick Joe Smith play on the same court for the first time since they were in high school.
The game was held up 20 minutes to give people time to get in. Overall attendance was about 4,500.
``This is unbelievable,'' Hoffler said. ``It's like giving birth.''
The event was the first of its kind in the four-year history of the Pro-Am, a nonprofit league that operates on a sneaker-string budget.
Apparently, it won't be the last.
``Next year, we're hoping we can have an All-NBA game,'' Hoffler said.
THE GAME: Iverson outscored Smith, 41 to 40, as his team, A&G Imports, rolled over Smith's Kershner & Hawkins team, 150-125.
The game, however, took a backseat to The Show, and there Iverson had a big advantage. As a point guard, the Georgetown sophomore had the ball most of the time, while Smith's teammates inexplicably overlooked him much of the night.
On one fast break, Iverson's former high school teammate, Tony Rutland of Wake Forest, tossed the ball off the backboard to a trailing Iverson, and the 6-foot guard spun 180 degrees and dunked the ball backwards.
``I like to showboat in games like this,'' said Rutland, who had 22 points, and six 3-pointers. ``It's for the crowd. This was a good display of me shooting, Allen driving, and Joe inside.''
SHOWTIME: The crowd was worked into a frenzy before Iverson and Smith even stepped on the court, thanks to some sensational play late in the first game from Kecoughtan High's Marseille Brown.
Brown, playing for the Boo Williams AAU squad, made a behind-the-neck dribble move on the Pro-Am's Darren Sanderlin that brought the crowd to its feet. Brown ran off the court to high-five Iverson, who was standing on the sideline.
After Sanderlin answered with a long 3-pointer - a shot that brought close friend Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker onto the court to high-five him, Brown countered with his own deep trey. That earned him high-fives from Iverson and Whitaker.
``I've been working on that move since the ninth grade,'' Brown said. ``I've never had the courage to try it. But Allen hyped me up.'' by CNB