THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150500
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
In an age that values athletic ability over playmaking skills and self-promotion over team identity, Maury's 21-0 regular season is welcome evidence that some things never change.
A point guard who can penetrate and shoot free throws is still the most valuable player on the court. That's why Maury's Ike Richardson is a leading candidate for South Hampton Roads player of the year.
A big man with soft hands and a hard body still opens up the perimeter for deadeye jump shooters. That's why the Commodores' 6-foot-9, 220-pound Ricardo Trevisan is the most valuable transfer in the area.
Surround them with a fearless 3-point shooter (Tommy Spruill), a defensive demon (Tim Sweeney) and a relentless rebounder (Stacey Gregg) and the potential exists for something special.
Entrust that potential to a veteran coach (Jack Baker) who has averaged nearly 20 victories a season for 20 years and suddenly a team picked to finish second in the Eastern District is knocking on history's door.
With Maury's 50-49 victory Wednesday night over Cox, the Commodores became the first Group AAA team in South Hampton Roads to complete an undefeated regular season since Indian River and Green Run did it in 1987-88.
Part of the wonder in that achievement is hardly anyone saw it coming.
``I thought we'd be good,'' Baker said. ``I thought we could compete in the Eastern District. But I didn't have any great expectations of winning it. I thought that Lake Taylor was the favorite.''
Maury returned only two starters, guards Richardson and Spruill. For all of Trevisan's promise - he signed in November with UNC-Greensboro - he didn't start and averaged only 3.4 points per game in his one season at Granby.
Sweeney, a sophomore, and Gregg, a freshman, spent last season on the junior varsity.
``I wasn't sure at the beginning of the year if Stacey would even make the team,'' Baker said. ``But in the preseason he was our best rebounder.''
First-year Granby coach Lonnie Blow spent 11 seasons assisting Baker at Maury and still got blindsided.
``Quite frankly, we had teams that were better, more experienced, when I was there,'' Blow said. ``Teams that were stronger physically and deeper. But coach Baker has done an outstanding job.''
The Commodores aren't a high-wire act. Their style more closely resembles open-heart surgery.
Maury is all about offensive spacing and penetration, precision cuts and good shots.
The Commodores are so good at the little things their highlight film could be called ``Honey, I Shrunk the Opponents.''
One way to do that is with defense. Maury relies on its full-court man-to-man press the way a surgeon depends on sutures to stop the bleeding.
Maury's chief surgeon, of course, is Richardson. He decides whether they run, whether they walk and, most of all, whether they win.
Richardson leads the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game, in assists at 7.8 per game, and is third in rebounding at 5.1 per game.
``He creates so much for us,'' Baker said. ``He can shoot well and he can take it to the basket. If you try to help out, you have to leave a shooter open and this is one of the best outside shooting teams we've had in a long time.''
Spruill, Sweeney, sixth-man Jake Schultz and Richardson can all sink the 3-pointer, and Trevisan is accurate to 15-feet.
Spruill averages 10.1, Sweeney 9.3 and Schultz 7.7 points.
``We've taken only a handful of bad shots all year, especially 3-pointers,'' Baker said.
That shooting ability transfers to the free-throw line, where the Commodores are hitting 74 percent. Spruill leads the team at 86 percent, followed by Schultz at 80 percent, Sweeney at 78 percent and Richardson at 74 percent.
``It's tough to beat us if we've got the lead,'' Baker said.
Maury posted its usual gaudy record last season with perhaps just as much talent; the Commodores went 18-7 and lost to Indian River in the region semifinals.
What's elevated this team has been Richardson's poise and confidence.
``Everybody realizes Ike is our leader,'' Baker said. ``Sometimes other kids don't want to accept that, but this group has. They realize we wouldn't be successful without him and they have let go of their egos for the betterment of the team.''
Richardson often seems to have enough ego for the entire team. He's the Commodores' public spokesman and revels in their No. 1 ranking.
But it's also a measure of his new-found maturity that he never rubs it in.
``I wouldn't say we're the best,'' he said. ``But when we're playing our best we can beat the best, whoever that may be. We're not the best athletes, but we've got a chemistry no one else has.''
Even so, Alfred Nobel needed some luck to invent dynamite and Maury has received its share of breaks.
Trevisan, an exchange student from Brazil, and Schultz, with whom he lives, filled two gaping holes when they transferred from Granby.
Trevisan started strongly, but slumped at midseason until Baker sat him down for a long stretch against his former team.
He has averaged 16.3 points since then and is averaging 12.9 points and 10.5 rebounds overall.
``The more he's played the better he's gotten,'' Baker said.
Spruill said the thought of going undefeated began to circulate through the team after it won the Catholic Christmas Invitational to improve to 11-0.
``I remember thinking then, `Hey, we've got something this year,' '' he said.
Now the trick is to keep it going. The Commodores will be top-seeded in the Eastern District tournament, which starts Tuesday at Maury.
They already have earned a bid to the Eastern Region tournament starting Feb. 26. The top two teams there go to state, something Maury hasn't done since 1989.
``I don't look ahead. I don't think you can,'' Baker said.
That's a coach talking.
``I think we can keep it going,'' Richardson said. ``Everybody wants to go to state.'' ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER
Ricardo Trevisan, above, at 6-foot-9, 220-pounds, and point guard
Ike Richardson, left, are two chief reasons for Maury's undefeated
record. Said coach Jack Baker, far left, ``I thought we'd be good. I
thought we could compete in the Eastern District. But I didn't have
any great expectations of winning it.''
by CNB