Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003102510
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Just 24 hours after the Bulldogs whipped George Wythe with a spread offense, Matoaca used the same tactic to beat Martinsville 68-56 in a semifinal game Friday.
So there will be no meeting between old rivals R.E. Lee-Staunton and Martinsville for the Group AA title. And the Piedmont District will not have a second straight state championship trophy for one of its schools - Magna Vista won the title in 1989.
Lee did its part by eliminating Laurel Park 69-47. The No. 1-ranked Leemen (27-0) will play Matoaca (25-2) this afternoon at 3.
Martinsville (25-3) came out mixing a zone with its usual man-to-man defense. The Warriors had made a Group AA-record 68.3 percent of their shots in beating Culpeper in the first round.
The strategy worked for a while, and Martinsville's patience paid off with a 27-24 halftime lead. The Bulldogs led until late in the third quarter, when Matoaca's Chris White made it 35-35 with a layup.
By the end of three quarters, the Warriors led 39-37 after White and Harold Dean connected. Martinsville never got even.
"When they got the lead, they went to the spread," said Husky Hall, the Martinsville coach. "It's very difficult to defense because they have three good ball-handlers.
"If we had gotten the lead, we would have gone to the spread. Just like the night before."
The fourth quarter turned into a free-throw parade, and the Warriors were up to the task. They made 22 of 24 free throws in the fourth, with Billy Rudolph making 10 straight.
"We started fouling early because we were in trouble," Hall said. "We didn't think they'd hit that many free throws. But we told our kids to go for the steal, not foul."
The Bulldogs' defensive mixture threw Matoaca off for 16 minutes. The Warriors sank only 10 of 21 shots from the field in the first half, but came back to make nine of 14 after intermission.
"We missed some easy shots the first half, but after last night [against Culpeper], that's to be expected," said Jimmy Williams, Matoaca's coach.
"We told the players not to worry about offense; just go out and play good defense. We shoot close to 60 percent for the year, but we don't like to get into a running game. We like to play good defense."
The changes also might have thrown Martinsville out of sync. "We usually press and play man-to-man," Hall admitted, "but we're a little slow for what they have."
As a result, leading scorer Travis Wells had a poor shooting night (3-of-13). Wells, who led Timesland 3-point shooters the past two years, was 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Hall tried everything. By the halfway point of the fourth quarter, Martinsville was out of timeouts.
Martinsville was down 58-46 after Rudolph connected on two free throws with 2:54 left, but they weren't finished.
Wells got two straight buckets, then Dean missed a one-and-one. Seandel Meadows was fouled going for a layup and he sank both free throws to make it a 58-52 game with 2:03 left.
That forced a Matoaca timeout, but the Warriors came out and started hitting free throws again. Rudolph dropped in six straight while Martinsville scored only one point.
"Our players shoot 100 free throws each every day. We take a lot of pride in our free-throw shooting," Williams said.
The 3,000 fans got a demonstration of what he meant.\ MARTINSVILLE (56)
Pilson 6-12 1-1 13, Wall 4-8 0-0 8, C. Brandon 2-10 2-2 6, Wells 3-13 1-2 8, T. Brandon 5-8 1-1 13, Meadows 3-3 2-2 8, Frazier 0-1 0-0 0, G. Hairston 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 7-8 56.\ MATOACA (68)
Jefferson 3-6 1-1 7, Whitfield 4-6 2-2 10, Payton 6-10 2-2 14, Rudolph 2-4 11-12 16, White 3-6 4-5 11, Dean 1-3 6-7 8, Shepperson 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 19-35 28-31 68. Martinsville 14131019-56 Matoaca 12121529-68
Three-point goals-Martinsville 3-11 (Pilson 0-2, Wells 1-5, T. Brandon 2-3, T. Frazier 0-1), Matoaca 2-5 (Rudolph 1-2, White 1-3). Rebounds-Martinsville 20 (C. Brandon 8), Matoaca 30 (Whitfield 7). Fouled out-T. Brandon. Assists-Martinsville 9 (Pilson 3), Matoaca 7 (Rudolph 3). Total fouls-Martinsville 22, Matoaca 8. Technical fouls-none. A-3,000.
by CNB