ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
The basketball team Blacksburg High coach Bob Trear thought he saw earlier this season, the one that put a mighty whacking on powerful Graham, showed up against William Byrd on Wednesday night.
Blacksburg played precision basketball from start to finish and pulled away as panting Byrd faded in the fourth quarter of a 69-59 Blue Ridge District tournament semifinal at the Salem Civic Center.
Blacksburg goes on to play Salem in the tournament championship at 7 p.m. on Friday at the civic center. William Byrd, which finished the regular season tied for first in the district, is done for the year after losing two of its last three, including a playoff with Salem on Monday to determine district tournament seeding and a berth in the Group AA Region III tournament.
Blacksburg (10-12) split with Salem during the regular year.
"Our guys played super,'' Trear said. "I think they played better against Graham earlier in the year. I saw that and thought then we had a pretty good team.''
Not a whole lot of that type of hoops was seen from the Indians for a while after that, though. Until Wednesday.
"The big difference was the fourth quarter,'' Byrd coach Paul Barnard said. "They had more in the fourth quarter than we did. Give them credit, they played better than we did. But it is very unfortunate you finish 1-2 in the district, then have to play three nights in a row and Blacksburg finishes sixth and they have to play two nights.''
If Blacksburg had fresher legs, it wasn't because of a liberal substitution policy. The Indians got a cumulative four minutes from their reserves. Center Philip Klaus and guards Randy Cross and Krishna Pacifici never left the floor. Matt Maher played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls.
Klaus was dominant down low, scoring 23 points to go with 10 rebounds. Maher added 19, going 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Pacifici scored a career-high 19 points.
Blacksburg made 17 of 21 free throws. Klaus made all five of his after going 1-for-8 in a loss to Byrd earlier this year.
"We finally made some free throws,'' he said. "At least we didn't give the game away like we did before with this same team.''
Blacksburg was dead even with the Terriers on the boards going into the fourth quarter, then won that battle 28-20 for the game.
"In the fourth quarter, whatever went up, that board was ours,'' Trear said.
For Byrd, Kevin Stump, who scored 35 points in a grueling 71-67 overtime victory over Rockbridge County on Tuesday, was held to 11 points by Klaus. Sophomore Josh Wheeler, who didn't play at all against Rockbridge because he'd missed part of the school day, scored 14 and Mayo Wilson 17.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN\STAFF. 1. Kevin Stump (center) of Williamby CNBByrd is tied up by Blacksburg defenders Philip Klaus (left) and Matt
Maher during Blue Ridge District tournament action at the Salem
Civic Center. color. (ran in B&W in Metro edition) 2. Kevin Stump of
William Byrd turns toward the basket as Matt Maher of Blacksburg
applies the defensive pressure.