THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030161
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
ON SEPT. 2-3 more than 500 teams from 55 cities will converge on Denver for the Triple Crown 3-On-3 National Basketball Tournament.
The Horsemen, a team of three 15-year-old players from Suffolk - Shane Johnson, Parker Brock and Carlton Ferguson - hope to be there.
``If we can raise enough money, we'll be there,'' Johnson said. ``We've been trying to get everyone we can to help by giving donations. We've been calling local businesses, family members, everybody.''
Johnson said he and his friends need about $300 per person to make the nearly 1,800 mile trek by bus.
``We tried to find the cheapest way, and that was the bus,'' he said. ``It doesn't really matter how we get there, we just want to go.''
Getting there might be the easy part. Once the Horsemen get to Denver, the competition is expected to be fierce.
``We will have people from all over America coming for that age group,'' said Chris Carrico, vice president of Triple Crown Sports. ``(The 15-year-old division) is where we have a lot of our entries.''
There is more to competing in the tournament than winning, according to the 10th-graders.
``We're not going out there with too high expectations,'' said Johnson, a student at Lakeland. ``We'll just go out and do what we can do. ''
``We're going to go out there as a team and work and play hard together,'' said Ferguson, who attends Nansemond River. ``We have to practice as much as we can before we go out there.''
The Horsemen have had plenty of practice together. The Denver tournament will be their fifth in the last three years. Earlier this summer they won three of five games to place first in a Triple Crown tournament in Norfolk.
``Others didn't work together as well as we did,'' Johnson said, adding that his team was his age group's top seed in the Norfolk tournament.
The Horsemen's first place finish got them an invitation to the Denver tournament. According to Carrico, teams that finish first, second or third in their age group at any of Triple Crown's 55 tournaments around the country receive an invitation to the national finals.
After the Horsemen's first few games, going to a national tournament wasn't considered. The trio lost three of their four games in a Hoop-It-Up tournament.
``We were nervous when we first started playing,'' said Brock, a student at Nansemond River. ``As we played in more tournaments, we got better.''
Losing three out of four convinced the Horsemen they needed to make a few changes.
``We got our own plays and defenses,'' Johnson said. ``That helped settle us down.''
Johnson's father helped the trio get better too. He started videotaping the Horseman's opening round games so they could see what they were doing wrong.
``Taping our game was a good idea,'' Brock said. ``We watched things that we did to steal the ball and used it in our other games.''
``We saw what we needed to do in our next games,'' Johnson said. ``We saw that our defense needed to be better, and that's what won it for us.''
The three said that teamwork and a good mix of inside and outside play also helped them get better.
``I'm good from the outside and the other two are really good inside,'' Brock said. ``They can block a lot of shots and that helped us.''
The three also agreed on why they want to go to Denver.
``Suffolk's not real well known,'' Johnson said. ``They'll know us if we do well in the tournament.''
Added Ferguson: ``It's a chance for us to represent Suffolk and put Suffolk on the map.''
Playing against the best from around the country is also motivation.
``There are going to be teams from all over,'' Johnson said. ``We'll get to show off some of our skills and show the rest of the world our playing ability.''
Traveling and playing tough competition are nice, but Johnson said the main reason they want to go is simple: ``We want to go out there and bring back a trophy.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Shane Johnson, left, and Parker Brock play for The Horsemen. Carlton
Ferguson, not pictured completes the three-man team.
by CNB