Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994 TAG: 9401220220
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Despite scoring only 13 points in the second half and despite some woeful shooting all night, Blacksburg won its 26th consecutive game against district opposition by outlasting Christiansburg 38-37 on Friday night.
There never was a better opportunity to end the Indians' streak. Blacksburg (3-5 overall, 2-0 district) shot 26.4 percent from the floor (14-for-53), missed nine of 15 free throws and nearly folded like a tent in the fourth quarter by committing eight turnovers.
"I was telling our guys, `Shoot, if you play that badly down the stretch and come out with a `W' [win], I don't care,' " said Bob Trear, Blacksburg's coach.
The Indians won for two reasons: They outrebounded Christiansburg 52-26, and 25 of Blacksburg's rebounds came at the offensive end.
Tony Wheeler led the Indians with 13 points and 19 rebounds, including seven offensive boards.
The way Blacksburg shot the ball, there were plenty of offensive rebounds to chase. The Indians missed repeatedly on stick-back attempts all night, grabbed the rebounds and often missed again.
"We were shooting back and forth to each other," Wheeler said. "If we had made our layups like we were supposed to, we wouldn't have had that many offensive rebounds."
Shots caromed from rims with reckless abandon all night. Christiansburg (7-6, 1-1) made only 10 field-goal attempts and shot 28.5 percent from the field.
The Blue Demons outscored Blacksburg 22-13 in the final two quarters before fading at the end.
Christiansburg climbed back from a 13-point third-quarter deficit, but never led. The Blue Demons made only nine of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter and missed a couple of chances to tie at the free-throw line in the waning seconds.
"In the second half, we did a better job of of penetrating and getting to the foul line," said Gerald Thompson, Christiansburg's coach. "We shot well from the foul line till the end."
It was free-throw shooting that got the Blue Demons back into the game. Denny Self, who led Christiansburg with 14 points, hit six free throws in a 90-second span to cut the deficit to two, at 35-33, with 2 minutes, 7 seconds left.
Blacksburg committed 22 fouls, and Ben Araman and Todd Perdue fouled out. Wheeler also was in foul trouble. Leading scorer Jay Safford, battling an illness for the second consecutive week, scored seven points.
"We weren't moving our feet on defense," Wheeler said. "We made silly fouls. Free throws kept them in the game. If we had played better defense, the game wouldn't have been that close."
Darrell Calloway's layup off a John Hairston assist pulled Christiansburg to 38-36 with 55 seconds to play. Ten seconds later, James Sarver missed a pair of free throws for Blacksburg and the Blue Demons rebounded.
After calling time out with 20 seconds left, Christiansburg got the ball to Rodney Perdue, who was fouled on a drive with 10 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Hairston rebounded for Christiansburg and was fouled with seven seconds left.
Hairston connected on the first, but missed the second free throw. Wheeler rebounded and was fouled with four seconds left.
Wheeler missed the front end of the one-and-one - Blacksburg's fifth miss from the line in the final 1:51 - and Calloway pulled down the rebound. However, the Blue Demons, who had used their last timeout before Wheeler's free throw, could only get Paul Phillips' half-court heave, which was well off at the buzzer.
"We wanted to rebound [the free throw], pass to half-court to Hairston or Self and drive to the basket," Thompson said. "We didn't get exactly what we wanted."
Blacksburg struggled with Christiansburg's 1-2-2 zone in the first half, but still led 25-15 at the intermission thanks to Wheeler's eight points and 12 rebounds.
The Indians' last New River loss was to George Wythe, a team that has dropped to the Mountain Empire District, in the final of the 1990 district tournament.
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: ***CORRECTION***