
DATE: Monday, May 5, 1997                   TAG: 9705050153

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   63 lines

HOOP-IT-UP 3-ON-3 TOURNAMENT HAS DOWNSIDE, TOO

With a steady wind blowing from off the nearby Chesapeake Bay, jump shots were not the shots of choice at the Hoop-it-Up 3-on-3 basketball tournament Sunday at the Norfolk Naval Station.

Not that anyone seemed to mind. Street basketball, after all, has always been more about beating your man off the dribble, taking the ball hard to the hole, and, most importantly, celebrating after ``schooling'' a hapless foe.

Which is exactly what 16-year-old David Johnson did after dunking over two players to finish off a win for his team, ``The Killah Bees.''

``Killahs!,'' bellowed Johnson, a lanky 6-foot-5 forward for the Maury varsity. A crowd of about 200 roared its approval.

``Seems like everywhere we play, the crowd follows,'' Johnson said.

The crowd was also big at the two ``Top Gun'' courts, where the tournament's top players battled on rubberized courts, with NBA referees Tony Brothers and LeRoy Richardson on hand to officiate their games.

Spectators were limited to friends and family at many of the other courts. But with 79 courts going at once, there were 79 mini-dramas unfolding at any given moment.

And, it seemed sometimes, 79 arguments.

Arguments over fouls, over traveling violations, over who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds. Rodney King could have been talking about Hoop-It-Up when he asked, `Why can't we all just get along?'' a few years back.

``The general rule is that you can call your own fouls,'' said Rhonda Winder, a volunteer who was supervising officials Sunday. ``Unless you can't get along.''

When that happens, an official - or two - is assigned to work the game.

By late Sunday afternoon, Winder was assigning officials at almost all of the six courts she was monitoring.

``Everybody's into their playoffs and championships games now,'' she said, while moving from court to court, watching for signs of trouble. ``So attitudes are flaring.''

Winder, who works as probation officer at Norfolk Juvenile Court, said the quickest way to bring players into line is to threaten to forfeit their game.

``They've all paid $88 per team, so they don't want to forfeit,'' she said.

Not when there's a championship trophy at stake. The tournament's 900 players were divided into 79 divisions, and there was a winner declared in each one.

Some of the teams that didn't win were already making plans for next year. George Cook, a fifth-grade teacher from Norfolk, came to watch his son B.J. and nephew Andre, both 10, play for a team called The B-Boyz.

The Boyz lost all three games, but didn't mind.

``They had fun, and they're already talking about what they'll do differently next year,' Cook said.

And what's that?

``Play better,'' said B.J. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

With 79 courts going at once, there 79 mini-dramas unfolding at any

given moment. And, it seemed sometimes, 79 arguments.

Photo by BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

While competitors get ready for another round of games Sunday,

Charles Merchant takes a breather before his next game for a

Washington, D.C. team at the Hoop It Up basketball tournament.