Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9403060176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLUEFIELD LENGTH: Medium
Ben Araman, Jay Safford and Tony Wheeler took turns penetrating the Graham defense for easy baskets.
The strong play allowed the Indians to build a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
Blacksburg then withstood a furious rally by the G-Men and captured the Region IV tournament finals 70-61 at Graham Middle School.
The regional title was the first since 1989 for Blacksburg (13-7), which has won nine straight games and 13 of 15. It will host Region III runner-up Northside (21-5) - a team it has lost to twice this season - in a state quarterfinal game Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Christiansburg High.
Graham (15-8) missed winning its first regional title in two decades. It will meet Region III champion Salem (22-1) in the state quarterfinals Monday at 8 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center.
Salem captured the Region III title Saturday night by beating Northside 79-56.
The Indians started the game by going inside against Graham's man-to-man defense.
Araman scored six in the first quarter, and Greg Shockley added five points, including one of the Indians' two 3-pointers, as Blacksburg opened a 17-8 lead.
"We knew if they came out in a man-to-man, we could pound it inside," said Araman, who finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. "When they did go to a zone, it was a loose zone, and we could still penetrate."
Said Graham coach Gary Williams: "We knew we would have to stop Araman inside, and we didn't do a good job of that in the early part of the game. We let them get offensive rebounds and stickbacks. And we didn't executive offensively. We took some colorful shots that just didn't fall."
The G-Men stayed within 12 points throughout the first half, when Kyron Kelley scored 12 of his 20 points.
But even Kelley's eight points in the third quarter couldn't help the G-Men. Safford and Araman each had eight points in the period as Blacksburg expanded its advantage to 18 points.
"We were able to use our height advantage," said the 6-foot-4 Safford, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds. "Tonight, we were sure we could use it. And we used our height to get inside."
The Indians opened the fourth quarter with two straight baskets. And when Safford scored on a layup with 7:16 left in the game, the lead was 59-39.
But over the next 4 1/2 minutes, the Indians committed seven turnovers, went 1-for-3 from the field and missed four free throws.
"We were up by 20 points, and all of a sudden, I don't know if we thought we had it won or Graham didn't want to lose by that much," said Blacksburg coach Bob Trear. "We just flat out started playing sloppy, and that gave Graham a chance to pick the tempo up."
It also gave Jay Gray other ideas. He scored 13 of his game-high 21 points during the Blacksburg dry spell as Graham outscored the Indians 16-2.
The first 10 points of the surge - featuring seven by Gray - cut the lead in half in less than two minutes. In the next 2 1/2 minutes, Gray scored six more points, and his layup with 2:38 to go made it 61-55.
But the G-Men got no closer. With 1:51 to go, Wheeler was fouled by Gray and hit both ends of a one-and-one to stop the rally.
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB