THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210554
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Top-seeded Norfolk Academy shrugged off the absence of one of its best players Tuesday night and buried Cape Henry Collegiate 78-60 in the Tidewater Conference tournament final at Greenbrier Christian.
The Bulldogs (20-7) played without point guard Juraj Podvorac, who scored 30 points in the semifinals against Catholic but woke up Tuesday with the flu.
Tournament MVP Bryan Duquette led five players in double figures with 16 points. Four Bulldogs combined to hit eight 3-pointers and forward Clarence Nimmo was credited with eight blocked shots.
``I think this was our greatest tournament win ever under the circumstances,'' Norfolk Academy coach Dave Trickler said. ``We found out this morning we would be without one of our best players and we were playing a good high school team with a great high school player.''
Cape Henry (18-7) boasts two Division I prospects - 6-3 Kinte Smith and 6-9 Chris DiNunzio. Smith scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 32.
But the Bulldogs' Colston Jones, Tommy Van Hoose and Nimmo shut down DiNunzio inside, holding him to two field goals and eight points.
``We needed more people to step up,'' Smith said glumly.
Cape Henry, buoyed by a tremendous fan following, burst to a 12-4 lead with Smith dunking twice and DiNunzio once. But as suddenly as the Dolphins started they just as quickly stopped.
Norfolk Academy outscored Cape Henry 13-2 over the last 2:35 of the first quarter to take a 19-16 lead. McDowell Brown and Duquette hit 3-pointers during the stretch, a presage of what was to come.
Cape Henry recovered to go up 27-23, but Norfolk Academy answered again. This time it was a 14-4 run to close the half. Russell Carter's 3-pointer with two seconds left gave the Bulldogs' their biggest lead to that point, 37-31.
The Dolphins would never get closer.
Norfolk Academy opened the second half with four 3-point field goals, two by Jay Denny and one each by Duquette and Brown.
``We're capable of shooting like that on and off,'' Duquette said. ``But usually Brown's on one night, Denny the next. Never have Carter, Denny and Brown all shot like that the same night.''
Cape Henry countered with a full-court press and twice cut the deficit to seven, the last time at 63-56 on a dunk by Smith with 5:38 to play. But that was the Dolphins' last gasp.
The Bulldogs' championship was their fourth in the past six years and the seventh for Trickler in the last 14 years.
``The Academy kids have great presence,'' Cape Henry coach Dave Cameron said. ``They believe they can win and all their guys stepped up.''
Duquette was joined on the all-tournament team by Nimmo, Podvorac, Smith, DiNunzio and Catholic's Byron Whitehead. by CNB