THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230609
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
Deep Creek will join Indian River as the Southeastern District representatives in next week's Eastern Region boys basketball tournament after posting victories in the district semifinals Friday night at Oscar Smith.
Top-seeded Indian River, which had already earned a region berth by virtue of its regular-season title, defeated Churchland 63-47 while Deep Creek advanced as the district's No. 2 team with a 77-58 win over Oscar Smith.
It took the leadership of Arnie Powell to get Deep Creek (15-6) into the final.
With the Hornets trailing 38-35 in the third quarter, the junior center - also the quarterback on the football team - had a talk with his teammates.
``I told the guards to get the ball the ball inside,'' Powell said. ``I just wanted to step up.''
Powell then scored eight of Deep Creek's next 12 points and the Hornets opened a 47-42 lead. He finished the game with 18 points, seven rebounds and three block shots.
``The guys just gave me great passes and I did the rest,'' he said.
Powell's dominance underneath the basket opened up the outside as Deep Creek went on 17-7 run and never looked back.
``Our kids just wanted it more than Smith,'' Deep Creek coach Benny Polk said.
Antonio Rhoes added a team-high 19 points. Smith (14-9) was led by Mydrione Halsey's game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Despite having all-star performances from Jason Capel and David Selby, the Braves (20-3) weren't happy with their 16th straight victory.
``We made a lot of mistakes,'' said Indian River coach Fred Spellman. ``It's like we didn't work as hard as we normally do.''
Capel finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Selby added 12 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Indian River jumped out to a 27-13 lead but then went cold from the field for the next three minutes. But Churchland (12-10) couldn't take advantage. The closest the Truckers ever came was 51-41 with a minute left in the game.
``If we play on Friday the way we did in this game we'll lose to Deep Creek,'' Indian River guard James Boyd said.
KEITH POMPEY L. Taylor reaches region, gets Maury on Saturday
NORFOLK - First the good news for the Lake Taylor boys.
The Titans advanced to the Eastern Region tournament thanks to a 52-49 victory over Booker T. Washington in the Eastern District semifinals Thursday night at the Maury gym.
Now the bad news. The win means the Titans (14-6) earn a Saturday night date with Maury (22-0), a team that Lake Taylor coach John Kelly calls the best in the state.
But Titans senior Darnell Whitaker is looking forward to the challenge. ``The first time they got us; the second time they got us,'' said Whitaker, who led the Titans with 11 points. ``Now it's a showdown.''
Lake Taylor, which had beaten the Bookers (9-11) twice in the regular season, never trailed and led by as many as 10 in the second half, benefiting from patient play and control of the defensive boards.
The Titans had a 44-35 edge with 3:20 remaining in the fourth quarter when Dewayne Jacobs sparked Rally No. 1 for the Bookers. The senior scored consecutive baskets, cutting the deficit to five. The Titans got caught traveling and Jacobs, who led all scorers with 17 points, nailed his first trey of the night to put Lake Taylor up 44-42.
But the Titans regrouped to go back up by six when Rally No. 2 started. Detron Short scored off a free throw and a layup to make it 50-47 Lake Taylor. Whitaker's next miss from the floor turned into a Terry Gray dunk, and the Bookers only trailed by a point with 15 seconds remaining.
``Whitaker took a bad short jumper instead of the layup,'' Kelly said. ``If we make that shot, we're up five.''
The Titans sent Brian Kelly to the line after an ensuing shooting foul, but the senior missed both shots. In a scramble for the rebound, the ball went out of bounds on the Bookers, and the Titans sealed the win with a Whitaker layup.
- VICKI L. FRIEDMAN No. 4 Tallwood stops O. Lakes in Beach semi
VIRGINIA BEACH - It took three quarters for things to fall into place, but Tallwood's spread offense finally started to work as the top-seeded and fourth-ranked Lions put away a pesky Ocean Lakes bunch 70-50 in a Beach District semifinal Thursday at Tallwood.
The Lions (19-3) advance to Saturday's championship against the winner of tonight's Green Run-Bayside semi.
Tallwood maintained a comfortable edge after breaking away from a slim 8-11 advantage early in the first quarter, but couldn't seem build much on the 19-10 lead it had going into the second.
Ocean Lakes guard Toby Johnson was the reason, hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the second quarter.
In the third period, Tallwood still couldn't put the Dolphins (13-10) away until just at the end.
Taking a 52-38 lead into the final quarter, Tallwood came to life and blew the game open by turning it into a series of one-on-one affairs that materialized out of the spread offense.
``Our kids just wanted it,'' coach Johnny Pope said. ``They started to hustle and that's what did it.''
Tallwood put on short bursts of five, four and six unanswered points that mostly came about on driving layups to the basket by Phillip Clay, Rian Everett and Neil Roberts. Mac Hall came on strong at the end, also, getting seven quick points.
Clay finished as the game's high scorer with 26, as the Lions got all their points from four players. Johnson finished with 21 for Ocean Lakes - 13 coming from the foul line.
- LEE TOLLIVER N. River vs. Lakeland a 4th time in Bay Rivers
SUFFOLK - Nansemond River and Lakeland will meet tonight for the fourth time this season in the Bay Rivers District tournament after each team won semifinal games at Nansemond River Thursday.
The top-seeded Warriors won their 18th straight game with an 85-57 rout of Bruton, while the Cavaliers avoided a huge comeback by Southampton in a 74-63 win.
Nansemond River (20-2) and Lakeland (15-7) both have berths in the Group AA, Region I tournament and will play tonight at 8, while the Indians (14-8) and Panthers (13-7) will play at 6 for the third region spot.
``Oh yeah, revenge,'' said the Cavaliers' Ricks, whose team has lost to Nansemond River all three times this season. ``This is the time that really counts.''
The second-seeded Cavaliers almost saw that chance slip away after Southampton cut a 30-point third quarter lead to eight with a minute left in the game. The Indians went on a 30-10 run in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter as Rodney Darden scored 12 and Greg Scott 11 in the surge.
Lakeland had to make 8 of 10 foul shots in the final minute to hold on after Ricks and Amon Cross, both starters, fouled out.
``We just panicked,'' said the Cavaliers' Brian Baker. ``They started to press and we just rushed and created turnovers.''
Lakeland jumped out to a 38-13 lead at halftime after the Indians missed 13 of their first 14 field goals and turned the ball over 22 times.
Southampton's Shawn Tann, who averages more than 20 points per game, was held to just two points and shot 1 of 7 from the field in the first half. He hit two three-pointers in the second half and finished with 11 points.
The Indians went to a full court man-to-man defense in the third quarter and held the Cavaliers to eight points in the first five minutes of the fourth, forcing two Lakeland timeouts.
``We let up and stopped playing,'' said Ricks, who finished with five blocks and six points. ``We figured we had the game won.''
Damon Tillery led Lakeland with 24 points, while Herman Knight added 14.
In the first semifinal, Nansemond River shook off a sluggish start as Bruton used a four-corner offense to hold the Warriors to a 13-8 lead after the first quarter. But Nansemond River got eight points from Antoine Willie and six each from LaShaun Pugh and Montoria Valentine in the second quarter to lead 37-16 at the half.
Willie finished with a game-high 32 points as Valentine added 21 points and 14 rebounds. Pugh had 13.
- JAMI FRANKENBERRY by CNB