Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994 TAG: 9403100085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Seventeen years later, Parry McCluer again played an overtime game in the state tournament, but this time the Blues defeated Honaker 66-64 on Tuesday in the first round at Radford University's Dedmon Center.
Parry McCluer (23-2), which was coming off Monday night's Region C championship victory over Chilhowie, plays Twin Springs at 8:45 p.m. today at University Hall in Charlottesville. Twin Springs defeated Chilhowie 71-57 Tuesday night.
An overtime should not have been to the liking of Parry McCluer, which was playing its third game and making its third trip in four days.
"No, actually we wanted overtime," said coach Nelson Fox, hoarse from a bout with laryngitis. "Just kidding. We didn't need this [overtime], but the kids hung on."
Barely. Parry McCluer blew every point of the 51-39 lead it held after Nathan Floyd hit a short jumper with 5 minutes, 55 seconds to play. At the time, the Blues had spread their offense and were forcing Honaker to chase.
That strategy was undone, however, as the Blues missed six of 10 free throws in the final 3 1/2 minutes, including the front end of four one-and-one opportunities.
"If you're going to run the delay, you'd better hit those free throws," Fox said.
Honaker (19-6) made the misses hurt. The Tigers outscored the Blues 18-6 during the final 5:32 of regulation to force overtime. Waylon Hart, Honaker's flashy 6-foot-3 ballhandler, scored 10 of his team-high 19 points during the run, including the last five. He capped that flurry with a driving layup that tied the score at 57 with 45 seconds left. That's how regulation ended.
The Tigers' comeback also coincided with the loss of Parry McCluer's leading scorer, Mike McElroy, who sat out five minutes of the fourth quarter after being poked in the eye.
McElroy returned with nine seconds left in regulation, then played a key role in overtime by picking up two loose balls underneath the Honaker bucket and deflecting a pass and running it down with 10 seconds left in the game and the Blues ahead 65-61. Six seconds earlier, he hit a pair of free throws.
He did all of it with blurry vision.
"I still can't see real well," he said after the game.
He could, however, see the basket when he shot the free throws.
"I could about halfway see it," he said.
Parry McCluer scored the first four points of overtime on a turn-around jumper by Nathan Baker and a driving baseline layup by Kris Carter. The Blues never trailed after that.
Two Brian Sizemore free throws were sandwiched by two Honaker free throws from Matthew McNulty and a layup by the Tigers' Jason Compton. Then, McElroy made his shots, stole the ball and Carter made a free throw to put Parry McCluer on top 66-61 with seven seconds left. Hart hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"We had about three straight possessions [in overtime] where we didn't even get off a shot," said Gordon Johnson, Honaker's coach. "We seemed to be in good shape until then."
McElroy scored 20 points for the Blues, Baker had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Sizemore had 11 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots and Carter scored 10 points.
Jeremy Jessee scored 14 points and hit four of Honaker's nine 3-pointers. Brian Whited scored 13 points and hit three 3-pointers and McNulty scored 10.
The Tigers trailed by 15 points in the first half, but stayed in the game by nailing four 3-point attempts in the second quarter.
Honaker needed the outside shots because Compton, the Tigers' sophomore forward, was held to eight points, 16 off his average. Sizemore and Baker, Parry McCluer's big men, appeared to bother Compton, evidenced by at least four missed layups.
"We tried to get someone in front of [Compton] and behind him," Fox said. "We were surprised with their outside shooting. They lit it up in the second quarter and again in the fourth."
Parry McCluer scored only four points in the game's first 4 1/2 minutes, yet held a two-point lead, thanks to Honaker's poor shooting. Baker and McElroy scored all the points in a 9-0 run that gave the Blues an 11-2 lead with 1:24 left in the first period.
Honaker missed 14 of its first 15 field-goal attempts, including three open layups off perfect alley-oop passes from Hart.
The Tigers shot 39 percent from the floor (24-for-61). Parry McCluer made 50 percent of its field-goal tries (26-for-52).
"We shot extremely bad in the first half," said Johnson, whose team was making its first state appearance since the 1920s, he believed. "[The Blues] were extremely tough on us inside. They blocked some shots early. They bothered us."
by CNB