Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991 TAG: 9102230351
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN WEBSTER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Forget that final score, though. This one didn't come easy for the Vikings (19-1 overall, 8-0 district).
Northside coach Billy Pope was quick to say that William Byrd (8-12, 0-8) has a better team than its record would indicate.
"Byrd has a lot of good players," the Vikings' coach said. "It took a strong defense with help from our bench to win this one.
"In the first half, there was nothing wrong with our defense, they just shot the ball well. So we stayed with what we were doing until things went our way."
Although never behind by more than four points, Northside trailed throughout most of the first half. With just under two minutes remaining, the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to turn a 30-24 deficit into a 32-30 halftime lead.
The district champions increased their lead to 51-46 after three quarters. After Byrd closed to 51-50, the Vikings put together a 9-0 spurt, and Byrd never got closer than nine points.
"Northside has a real good team," William Byrd coach Paul Barnard said. "We played as hard as we could, but they played hard, too. I thought their guard [Chad Briscoe] did a heck of a job shooting from the outside. It seemed every time we got close, he would nail one."
Briscoe, the Vikings' senior point guard, took only nine shots from the floor and made seven, mostly jumpers from the outside, including a 3-pointer. He finished with 16 points.
"It being `Senior Night' here, we knew coming in that they would be up for us," Briscoe said of the host Terriers. "I definitely wanted to pay them back for beating us here last year. I'll never forget that 88-81 loss.
"Everyone who played in that game last year wanted to win this one as bad as I did. Coach [Pope] kept telling us to stay in their face on defense and eventually we would wear them down. And I think that is what happened."
John Baker led Northside with 19 points, but it was reserve Ron Glass, with eight points in the final four minutes, who allowed Northside to stay in command at the end.
Glass finished with 13 points, topping his previous high of 11.
Jim Porter added six points off the bench for the Vikings. Pope singled out reserves Chuck Bailey, Aaron Burford, Scott Howell and Matt Hill for their contributions.
Sophomore David Robinson paced Byrd with 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
"I think we lost because they [the Vikings] always knew what to do at the right time," Robinson said.
Byrd made 28 of 50 field-goal attempts (56 percent); Northside was 27-of-58 (46.5 percent). Northside outshot Byrd 23-11 at the free-throw line.
NORTHSIDE (78)
Baker 8 3-7 19, Briscoe 7 1-2 16, Bailey 0 2-2 2, Burford 0 2-2 2, Howell 0 2-2 2, Hill 1 0-0 2, Robinson 0 1-2 1, Burke 3 1-3 7, Ballard 2 4-6 8, Porter 2 2-2 6, Glass 4 5-6 13. Totals 27 23-34 78. WILLIAM BYRD (68)
Andrews 6 0-2 12, Brizendine 5 5-5 15, Reynolds 1 0-0 2, Robertson 9 1-5 19, Smith 1 0-0 2, Wade 3 3-5 10, Young 3 2-2 8. Totals 28 11-19 68. Northside 14181927-78 William Byrd 16141622-68 Three-point goals: Briscoe, Wade. JV: 62-61, William Byrd.
by CNB