THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602010160
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
The Manteo boys basketball team has used its size and inside game to jump out to the early lead in the Northeastern Conference.
Having already beaten Plymouth, the Redskins knocked off Southeast Halifax and Currituck this past week to claim the league's top spot at 3-0.
After last Friday's 68-63 win over previously unbeaten Southeast Halifax, people around the conference might start referring to the Manteo boys as ``Rebounds 'R' Us.'' Sporting a twin-tower lineup of 6-foot 10-inch Stefan Fus and 6-foot 7-inch Chris Sillis, the Redskins grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the victory.
The Trojans played the game without leading scorer Thurman Lassiter, who was out sick. Lassiter is averaging 20 points per game. Southeast Halifax was ranked sixth in the Associated Press poll for 2A schools.
Sillis, Fus, and Jason Summerton combined for 26 rebounds, and Sillis blocked six shots. Still, the Trojans were able to stay up with the Redskins the entire game.
Manteo trailed 29-21 with 3:48 to play in the first half when Halifax's Ronnie Richardson hit a jumper. The Redskins went on a 13-0 run to end the half.
Most of the scoring came from the inside. Fus grabbed a rebound and tipped in a basket, and Sillis followed with a tip-in to cut the Southeast lead to 29-25. Darius Collins knocked in a three-pointer and a jumper to put Manteo up 30-29 with 1:43 to play in the half. Sillis sank two free throws, and Summerton had a tip-in at 42 seconds to give Manteo a 34-29 halftime lead.
Southeast came back to out score Manteo 20-12 in the third quarter to take a 49-46 lead. The Manteo defense left Marcus Lewis and Anthony Debro open, and they took advantage of it. Lewis poured in 10 points and Debro added seven.
With 4:08 to play in the game, Richardson put back a shot to tie at 55-55. Manteo's L.C. Thrash came back with a jumper at 3:21 to put the Redskins up 57-55. A key play and rebound helped give Manteo an advantage it would hold for the rest of the game.
After Thrash's jumper, Sillis swatted away a Southeast shot, and Lewis was called for a blocking foul on Collins.
Collins sank the first free throw to put Manteo up 58-55. He missed the second free throw, but Summerton grabbed an offensive rebound. Sillis canned a short jumper to give Manteo a 60-55 lead with 2:45 to play. The game turned into a free throw contest, and although Manteo missed five freebies, Southeast had trouble finding the basket.
Both coaches felt rebounding was a key to the game, particularly on the offensive side.
``When you get that many second opportunities in this type of game, it's big,'' Hendrix said.
``We got beat off the boards and at crucial times,'' said Thomas Smith, Southeast Halifax head coach. ``They had a lot of second and third shots. We let them right back in it.''
Besides the offensive rebounding, Manteo head coach Bud Hendrix said a key to the game was the play of Patrick McNeeley and Ashley O'Neal, who came off the bench to combine for 16 points. McNeeley had seven of his nine points in the second quarter. Both players complemented Manteo's inside game with outside scoring. ``Those guys came in and took Southeast Halifax out of their 2-3 zone,'' Hendrix said. ``In that defense, they were active and they were quick.''
The teams are set for a rematch on Feb. 16 in Halifax. Both teams are expected to battle for the top spot in the conference. Manteo already has beaten the top two contenders in the conference: Plymouth and now the Trojans.
``We have to play them up there when they are at full strength,'' Hendrix said. ``But it's nice to be in the position we're in.''
``They're a good team, but not the best team we've played,'' Smith said. ``They are definitely the biggest team. Their size gave us a problem. We didn't box out like we should. It would have been a different game with Lassiter.''
Sillis scored 14 points and Fus added 12 for Manteo.
In the 72-56 win over Currituck, Manteo played around with the Knights for one half, then turned the screws in the second half.
Sillis scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half as the Redskins finally went to the inside game. The game had been tied 20-20 at the half.
``We had a little halftime discussion about getting the ball inside,'' Hendrix said. ``Sillis and Fus shot just five times in the first half. That's silly. Currituck played man-to-man, so we wanted to get the ball to the inside.''
Manteo shot 19-for-33 in the second half to blow the game open. The Redskins out scored the Knights 29-18 in the third quarter as Sillis poured in 10 points on inside moves and short jumpers.
The Redskins opened up an 18-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run. Sillis put Manteo up 58-40 on a pair of free throws with 5:37 to play.
Reuben Godfrey, Currituck head coach, said the Knights couldn't stop Manteo's inside game in the second half.
``They posed a problem for us on the inside. We did a good job in the first half, but then they went to the inside game,'' Godfrey said. ``We didn't get back on defense, and we didn't get many outside shots.'' by CNB