ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996 TAG: 9604050085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
There was no better time than the present for Emory & Henry to renew its basketball connection with Northside High School.
The Wasps, in need of a point guard following the loss of senior Kevin Alexander, received an oral commitment Thursday from 5-foot-11 Justin Porterfield.
Porterfield scored 1,029 points in his career - most by a Northside player since the 1970s - and stands fourth on the Vikings' all-time list. He also had 463 assists.
Porterfield averaged 14.2 points and 6.3 assists this season for the Vikings, who won the Blue Ridge District championship and reached the Group AA semifinals for the third straight year. Porterfield was a first-team All-Blue Ridge selection.
``We got calls from a number of Division I schools,'' Northside coach Billy Pope said, ``but I don't think Justin was interested in waiting his turn [to play]. He wants to be in the middle of the action.''
Porterfield was recruited for Emory & Henry by Wasps' assistant Billy Allen, a 1989 Northside graduate who played at Emory & Henry with former Vikings teammate Derek Elmore.
``I can't get involved in directing kids to one school or another,'' Pope said. ``In this case, I think the school [Emory & Henry] and the situation were what sold Justin.''
There was some interest between Porterfield and Roanoke College; however, Maroons point guard and Northside alumnus Nathan Hungate has two years of remaining eligibility.
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