ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
Riverside (N.C.) is proving to be the hit of the NationsBank Holiday Hoops Classic, but it's at the expense of the local teams.
The tournament's only non-Timesland team among the eight squads stole the show again Wednesday at the Salem Civic Center by cruising to a 70-50 victory over Northside in the semifinals. While the Vikings upset William Fleming in a first-round game with a patient offense, that act hardly fazed Riverside, which had rallied to beat Franklin County by a nice margin in an opening round contest.
Thus the Pirates become the first non-Timesland team in the three-year-old tournament to advance to the title game when they meet Salem today at 3:45 p.m. Northside will catch Byrd at 2 p.m. in a matchup of Blue Ridge District contenders for third place in the tournament.
``We probably played as well as we've played this year,'' said Riverside coach Larry Parrish. ``We got more things from more people. We had good things from the bench.''
After a 6-6 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Pirates (8-0) built a 30-15 lead at intermission. Antoine Moorman, who was Riverside's only double-figure scorer with 18, hit two 3-point shots that had Northside (3-3) reeling.
But the Vikings made a run in the third quarter on 3-point shots by Justin Porterfield and Spence Peters. After Tony Daye connected for the Pirates, Peters hit another 3-pointer to cut the Riverside lead to 32-24. The Vikings could get no closer as Riverside began pulling away.
``Northside's a good team, very disciplined,'' Parrish said. ``Their coach [Billy Pope] utilizes his talent well. The difference is that in the first half, they got down because they missed their 3-point shots and we hit ours.
Pope was not displeased with his team despite 17-of-46 shooting from the field and a 45-20 rebounding deficit. Riverside also had eight blocked shots with Mark Green getting four and Jon Henderson three. The Pirates made 29-of-61, so the statistics were a reflection of the game.
``I thought we had some good shots that were in and out the first half,'' said Pope. ``Riverside doesn't give you a lot of opportunities for error because they control the boar
``Playing Riverside and Fleming back-to-back has to help us,'' Pope said. ``We never let up. But the harder we attacked [in the second half], the harder they seemed to attack.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Ben Peete of Northside (with ball)by CNBlooks for an open teammate as Riverside defenders Marc McPhatter
(23) and Jon Henderson converge.