THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290695
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
They like Ike at the Catholic Holiday Invitational.
Maury's Ike Richardson was named the Most Valuable Player Thursday night after he scored 21 points, dished off at least a half dozen assists and played rugged defense on Cox's Ben Green down the stretch in leading the second-ranked Commodores past the No. 8 Falcons 70-59 in the final.
``Ike just took over the game and wasn't going to let us lose,'' Maury coach Jack Baker said.
Added Cox coach Kenny Edwards, ``It looked like Ike put them on his shouders and wouldn't let them lose.''
That's the whole idea, Richardson said, after Maury improved to 11-0.
``I take my leadership role seriously,'' Richardson added. ``At crunch time I want the ball.''
Crunch time against Cox came with 2:52 left in the third quarter and the Commodores clinging to a 41-39 lead. Edwards sat down Green, who had brought Cox back from a seven-point halftime deficit with 10 third-quarter points, and Baker countered by going to a zone trap.
Maury forced a quick turnover and Richardson pulled up for a wide open 3-pointer from the top of the key to push the lead to five. Maury trapped again and Richardson stripped the ball from Carl Lentz at midcourt and sailed in for a layup that made it 46-39.
Cox (5-3) wouldn't get closer than seven again until Green hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left that cut the margin to six. Again it was Richardson who answered for Maury - this time with two free throws - and Cox didn't score again.
Maury trailed only once, at 3-0, and quickly raced to a 14-5 lead. That forced Cox out of its man-to-man and into a 2-3 zone.
The Falcons used a 12-5 run at the outset of the second half to tie the score twice on baskets by Green. Maury regained the lead for good at 41-39 on a stickback by Ricardo Trevisan and then Richardson took over.
Green led all scorers with 22 points. Freshman Stacy Gregg added 13 for Maury, 11 in the first half.
In other games:
Msgr. McClancey 77, Catholic 58: Dain Ervin scored 10 of his 27 points in the first quarter as McClancey clinched third place. Ryan Andrews had 16 points for Catholic.
Norfolk Academy 65, Nashua 53: Juraj Podvorac had 31 points and five assists amd Bryan Duquette added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs in the fifth-place game.
Granby 81, Mathews 40: Tiran Matthews scored 14 points and Anthony King and Michael Mitchell added each as the No. 10 Comets took seventh place. by CNB