THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040460
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Fourth-ranked Indian River finally displayed its ability to dominate a good opponent Wednesday night.
The Braves ran off 12 straight points during a 21-4 run over parts of the second and third quarters and held No. 6 Lake Taylor at bay the rest of the way in taking a 70-65 victory.
It was the eighth straight road game for Indian River, with the promise of at least six more to come, coach Freddie Spellman said. The Braves' gym floor is being rebuilt and their practice gym doesn't have a 3-point line.
That might explain why the Braves (5-3) missed their first eight 3-point attempts in falling behind 28-20.
Then guard David Selby got lucky, banking in a long trey, and the Braves suddenly looked like the defending Eastern Region champs. They scored the last seven points of the half to close to within 28-27 and then hit five of their first six shots to start the third quarter.
Most of the points came off short jump shots created by penetration.
Spellman said he wasn't upset with the Braves' shot selection, but with a front line of 6-8 Ed Seward and 6-7 Jason Capel he wasn't opposed to exploring other options either.
``We should have gone low to Jason every time,'' Selby said.
Capel, who entered the game as the leading scorer in South Hampton Roads at 21.8 points per game, finished with 22 while Seward topped his output for the entire season with 10.
``Coach told us at halftime we were taking too many jump shots,'' said Terry Rouse, who launched most of those early 3-point attempts.
``We needed to get it inside to Jason and that opened it up for everybody else.''
Rouse included. The 6-6 senior guard scored all 10 of his points in the second half.
Indian River led by 11 on three occasions in the fourth quarter. Deshawn Hendricks kept Lake Taylor within hailing distance with four 3-pointers, but the Titans never got closer than seven until the final seconds.
Toot Young scored 18 to lead the Titans (7-2), who had a seven-game winning streak snapped. But he scored only one basket in the second half when the Braves went to a box-and-one with James Boyd chasing Young.
``We never got control in the second half,'' Lake Taylor coach John Kelly said. ``We gave them some layups by not getting back and committed some turnovers and never got it back to a one-possession game.'' by CNB