DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997           TAG: 9702270713

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   23 lines

RYAN ADVANCES TO THE VIS SEMIFINALS

Omari Minnis scored 10 of his team's final 14 points as top-seeded Ryan held off Carlisle 71-61 Wednesday night at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in the Virginia Independent Schools Division II state quarterfinals.

The Griffins - ranked first in the VIS Division II poll - play Peninsula Christian or Shenandoah Valley Friday at North Cross in the semifinals.

``Somebody had to step up at the end,'' said Minnis, who ended up with a game-high 27 points, ``and I guess it was me tonight.''

The Griffins caught fire after a sluggish first quarter, scoring 23 points on a number of fast-break layups to jump to a 15-point halftime lead.

But in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs rattled off 13 straight points to cut the lead to two.

After a timeout, the Griffins finally salted away the game soon thereafter, led by Minnis' scoring and center Johnathan Collins' defense. Collins had many of his 14 blocked shots and 12 rebounds in the game's last eight minutes.

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