Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 25, 1992 TAG: 9201250308
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VIKINGS ELUDE TERRIERS
Northside's quickness and speed were matched against William Byrd's height; but, surprisingly, the Vikings' inside game made the difference.Northside walked away from the Terriers with a 75-55 Blue Ridge District boys' basketball victory Friday because of the work of 6-foot-4 1/2 Walt Derey and 6-1 1/2 Jim Porter, the Vikings' big men.
"They just beat us inside," Byrd coach Paul Barnard said after Derey and Porter combined for 28 points.
Derey had a game-high 14 rebounds, which didn't give the Vikings a rebounding advantage but kept the Terriers' front line from dominating with their 38-33 edge.
It was Derey, acting like one of the Vikings' quick guards, who put away the game for Northside (11-2 overall, 2-0 Blue Ridge) with a steal and a three-quarters length-of-the-floor layup for a 67-55 lead with 2:48 left as the Vikings scored the game's final 12 points.
"I just read the eyes and saw the ball," Derey said of his steal. "Our game plan was to make sure they didn't get the offensive rebounds. If they got a lot of [offensive] rebounds, it didn't matter how they'd shoot because they'd score a lot of points."
Byrd's 6-4 David Robertson headed the Terriers' front line, which averages 6-4 1/2, with 23 points and 13 rebounds. But he got little scoring help from his frontcourt teammates to offset the Vikings' four guards - Aaron Burford, Matt Hill, Kelly Dampeer and Scott Howell - who combined for 41 points, seven steals and six assists.
Burford headed the Vikings' outside game with six assists and three first-half layups on which he drove down the middle of Byrd's offense.
"The first half, we gave up too many layups. We knew they were going to penetrate and we didn't handle that," Barnard said. "That caused us to panic and we missed a lot of easy shots. A lot of that was caused by Northside."
Still, the Terriers (6-4, 1-1) had their chance. With Scott Kelley making a layup and Robertson a follow shot, Byrd cut Northside's lead to 47-43 with 2:20 left in the third quarter. After a timeout, the Vikings scored eight straight points, starting with two free throws by Porter.
"We just wanted to do what we do best - pass the ball," Northside coach Billy Pope said of his timeout strategy. "We got three great passes and Porter got a foul out of it."
Northside made 26 of 53 shots from the field, while the Terriers struggled with 23 of 59. The Vikings also made 22 of 30 free-throw attempts, all but four of those attempts coming in the second half. \
see microfilm for box score