ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602130024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
Suddenly, a young Salem team is in control of the Blue Ridge District basketball race.
Sophomore Herschel Thomas, using a strong supporting cast Saturday, pumped in 30 points as the Spartans pasted Northside 66-45.
Salem (11-7 overall, 7-1 in the district) is a half-game ahead of Northside (10-6, 6-1) with a week remaining in the regular season, but the Vikings have one district game remaining. They welcome third-place William Byrd on Monday in a makeup game.
While Thomas was on fire, his points might not have come so easily had it not been for the key play of Andy Beach and Marshall Wooldridge early in the last quarter.
Northside had just regained the lead for the first time since late in the first quarter when Justin Porterfield's free throw pushed the Vikings in front 39-38 with 6:34 left.
Wooldridge answered with a 3-point shot from the side as Salem reclaimed the lead for good. Then Beach had two consecutive steals with one leading to a follow shot by Wooldridge to put the Spartans up 43-39. Beach also blocked a shot by Porterfield.
Then Thomas took off, hitting 16 of Salem's final 20 points. Included in Thomas' repertoire were four of his six 3-point shots. For the game, he was 10-of-19 from the field.
``I guess I was in a zone,'' said Thomas, who had a quiet third quarter after he had scored 12 points in the opening half.
``I've seen players get hot. Man he was hot,'' said Salem coach Charlie Morgan, who was something of a gunner himself when he played at old Andrew Lewis. ``I don't even think he even thought for a second about shooting. He just shot and that's tough for a sophomore.''
Thomas and his teammates might have experienced deja vu when Porterfield pushed Northside ahead. Salem blew a big lead in the final quarter to lose to the Vikings in the teams' first meeting.
``We felt like we wanted to pay Northside back for what happened over there. We were together and we regrouped and played after they got the lead,'' said Thomas.
The Spartans shot well, making 24-of-53 field goals, a torrid 9-of-14 in the fourth quarter.
There were other pluses for Salem. Kwam Lewis stepped up defensively with three blocked shots while Sam Lazzaro had five assists and three steals.
Morgan liked the support that Thomas got, especially from Beach.
``Andy felt like to help the team he had to score,'' said Morgan. ``But he always guards the other team's best player and does a lot of little things that he doesn't get credit for. I think Andy and the other kids are learning their roles.''
Beach hounded Porterfield, who made only 1-of-16 shots. Porterfield, a senior guard, did other things for his team, though, with five assists and five steals. Fellow guard Ben Peete kept the Vikings close with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
``Obviously, Salem's offense was very good in the final quarter,'' said Northside coach Billy Pope. ``For three quarters, we defensed them well. But we fell behind and had to take chances. When we did, they made us pay.''
The Vikings hit only 17-of-57 shots and were hurt inside by the absence of center Adam Gray, who is out with a broken foot.
``We had some good opportunities in the third quarter, but we didn't capitalize,'' said Pope. ``They did capitalize on their opportunities.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB