THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601230104
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
NO ONE WAS MORE surprised than Tallwood's Neil Roberts when his name popped up on a preseason list of Player of the Year candidates in South Hampton Roads.
Here was a guy who was relegated to All-Beach District honorable mention last year and wasn't even considered the best player on his team when the season started.
That distinction belonged - and may still - to shooting guard Rian Everett, who recently scored his 1,000th point.
But if the Lions, 11-1 and ranked No. 2 in South Hampton Roads, have an indispensable player it's Roberts. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding and is also its best inside defender.
That's a heavy burden for someone who is listed generously at 6-4 and weighs only 190 pounds. But Roberts knows all about challenges.
He faced some of the best players in the country last spring and summer traveling with Boo Williams' U-17 AAU team and made all-tournament teams in Chapel Hill and Philadelphia.
Among the players Roberts was assigned to guard were Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Paul Pierce, Willie Dersch and Schea Cotton. Abdur-Rahim and Pierce are freshmen at California and Kansas, respectively. Dersch signed in November with Virginia and Cotton, still a junior in high school, is being touted as the next player to jump from the preps to the pros.
``Playing against those guys built up my confidence,'' Roberts says. ``You do that and you realize you can play with anybody.''
That realization is starting to take hold across Hampton Roads. Roberts ranks third among area Group AAA scorers at 20.4 points per game and is averaging a shade under 10 rebounds.
He notched a season-high 30 points against No. 4 Cox and has scored 20 or more eight times.
``He's really athletic in the open floor and takes the ball to the hole really well,'' Lake Taylor coach John Kelley said after Roberts torched the eighth-ranked Titans for 24 points. ``He's lefthanded and that gives him an extra step because people aren't used to it. I was especially impressed with the way he shot, especially pressure free throws.''
Roberts agrees being lefthanded is an advantage.
``Most people play me to my right side thinking I'm righthanded,'' he said. ``I catch a lot of people off guard.''
Roberts scores most of his points in the paint, although he doesn't have to receive the ball there to be effective.
``I'm best driving to the bucket and I like to set up behind the 3-point arc,'' he says.
The Lions need Roberts inside for his rebounding but coach Johnny Pope has recently given him the green light to attempt some 3-pointers. He made two last week against Bayside and is 6 for 7 overall.
``I have to work on that part of my game if I'm going to play at the next level,'' he said.
Roberts will have to play on the perimeter in college and Williams, for one, thinks he can.
``He's a great kid,'' Williams said. ``He's the kind of guy you don't think is doing much and after the game he has 15 points and 15 rebounds. He can go out on the wing and he was our best defender (at an AUU event) in Los Angeles.''
Roberts is especially effective in the middle of the Lions' zone press. With his size and quickness he is able to swoop in and swipe passes at midcourt, often turning them into two points at the other end.
Roberts' future is uncertain, however, partly because he hasn't taken the SAT. Junior college is a possibility, he says.
Roberts moved to Virginia Beach from Connecticut when he was 13. His stepfather, Terrence Tisby, is stationed at the Coast Guard Station in Portsmouth.
``Neil is like most teenagers,'' Tisby says. ``He likes to watch movies and play video games. He can be lazy at times, but is pretty good about taking care of the things he has to.''
Basketball is usually at the top of the list.
``It's something he has always enjoyed and he just happens to be good at it,'' Tisby said. ``Neil can sit and watch basketball all day. If he wasn't that good I think he'd still like to play.''
But he is that good. Roberts has scored in every game since making the team as a sophomore - a streak of 57 in a row - and has 762 career points.
``Away from basketball Neil is quiet and conservative, not egotistical,'' Tallwood coach Johnny Pope said. ``But when he hits the court he becomes an extrovert.''
Whether he's the player of the year, however, remains to be seen. ILLUSTRATION: HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Staff photo by CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
Tallwood's Neil Roberts, 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, is averaging about 20
points and 10 rebounds a game. He says being left-handed has been an
advantage.
by CNB