THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602250230
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Unable to match two previous victories over Hampton Christian, Portsmouth Christian dropped the Metro Conference tournament championship game to the Warriors 55-46 Saturday night at Christopher Newport.
Portsmouth Christian (25-3), the regular-season champion, fought its way from an early deficit to a 37-37 tie with 4:47 left to play.
But the Warriors (19-4) went on an eight-point run and the Patriots were forced to foul.
But they couldn't keep the ball out of the hands of Hampton's Walter Barnes, and he was the wrong man to foul. Barnes hit eight free throws in the closing quarter and was 10 for 10 at the line for the game.
``I'm a pretty good foul shooter,'' Barnes said. ``But I don't know if I've even been 10 for 10 in practice.''
The 5-11 guard finished with 14 points. Dan Heely added 13.
Imani Gregory paced Portsmouth Christian with 14, hitting three 3-pointers and getting 12 of his points in the second half.
Danny Barton, who did yeoman's work on the glass for the Patriots with 11 defensive rebounds, chipped in 12 points.
Brian Rustay, the Patriots's season-long scoring leader, was limited to nine points. He made Portsmouth Christian's first field goal with a 3-pointer and didn't score again until the last quarter.
``It's tough trying to beat a good team like Hampton Christian three times,'' said Portsmouth Christian coach Larry Smith. ``But we've got to blame that cold second quarter when we scored only four points. Only once this year have we had a quarter like that one.''
Portsmouth Christian placed three on the 10-player All-Metro squad announced after the game.
Rustay, Barton and Andy Ballard were chosen. Rustay was picked as the conference's most valuable player. by CNB