Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994 TAG: 9403030035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RIDGEWAY LENGTH: Medium
The Spartans, ranked No. 1 in the latest Group AA poll, made 28 of 34 free throws in the game, outscoring Magna Vista by 23 points from the line.
"Something I learned from Denny Crum up at Louisville awhile back: When it gets to this time of the year, you'd better make your free throws," said Charlie Morgan, Salem's coach. "We take more in practice now and we want to hear string music when the players make them. That makes them concentrate even harder."
The Spartans (20-1) sank 17 of 20 free throws in the first half and really only faltered in the last 5 minutes, 57 seconds, when they missed five of eight.
That and four consecutive fruitless possessions allowed the Warriors (16-6) to whittle a 12-point lead to three points when Marcus Toney drilled the last of his five 3-pointers with 19 seconds left.
A Salem turnover later, Mac Inge got a good look at a shot beyond the arc, but missed and Salem's Bryan Monroe rebounded. Monroe was fouled and he missed the front end of the one-and-one. Toney came down the floor and was off on an open 3-pointer. Time ran out during the ensuing scramble.
"Even with all the fouls, we still had a chance to put it into overtime," said Jim Young, the Warriors' coach. "We had a good shot at a 3 and missed it. In this game, that's the way it goes."
Salem next plays Jefferson Forest of the Seminole District at 7:30 p.m. today at Magna Vista. The Cavaliers had an opening-round bye.
The Warriors attempted many more field goals than Salem (65-38) and made more (28-20), but the shots didn't fall as readily in the fourth quarter, when Magna Vista was 6-for-20.
Salem played most of the game in a zone defense, which was one of the reasons it was able to control Warriors center Tony Holmes, who averages almost 19 points per game. Holmes finished with 12 points, eight of them in the second half.
"They made it very difficult to get the ball into Tony because they were double- and triple-teaming him out of the zone," Young said. "We really couldn't get the ball to him until the second half."
That forced most of the early action for Magna Vista to the outside. The Warriors buried five 3-pointers in the first quarter alone, three by Toney.
"I told the guys that they couldn't keep hitting like that," Morgan said. "If they were going to beat us, then they were going to have to beat us from the outside."
Salem made up for the disparity in shots by controlling the boards 32-28, which isn't that easy to do in a zone.
"You have to concentrate more because somebody usually isn't beside you like in a man-to-man, so you have to go look for somebody to box out," said Spartans center Nathan Routt, who had nine rebounds to go with 13 points.
Mark Byington, Kevin Garst and Routt were a combined 22-of-24 from the free-throw line. Byington, who also hit a trio of 3-pointers, finished with a game-high 28 points and Garst had 12, as did Matt Woolwine.
"I was handling the ball more than usual because they were putting a lot of pressure on our point guard [Monroe]," Byington said. "Whenever I got the ball, I was going to the goal."
Toney finished with 17 points and Evan Penn and Rodney Redd had 11 each. Redd, Jermaine Simmons and Leroy Valentine were disqualified in the blizzard of 29 Warriors fouls.
"We're very aggressive defensively; we'll come after you," Young said. "We're not a big team, so we have to come after you. A lot of times this year we've played with four guards and a post player.
"They played with a lot of heart. I'm very proud of them." \
see microfilm for box score\ Northside 72, Liberty 61: In Bassett, the Vikings lost most of a 23-point halftime lead but still held off the Minutemen in another first-round Region III game, advancing to a semifinal tonight against Martinsville.
Northside hit eight of 14 3-point attempts in the first half and led 45-22 at intermission. Then it was Liberty's turn. The Minutemen knocked down six of eight 3-point attempts in the final 16 minutes, used a full-court press and failed three times to cut the Vikings' lead to four.
Finally, Northside sophomore Justin Porterfield created one turnover and had a steal to thwart Liberty's rally. Nathan Hungate, who scored a game-high 30 points, hit six consecutive free throws in the final 1:05 to secure the Vikings' victory. Hungate finished 15-of-16 from the line. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB