THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280566
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Fads come and go. Some come back. Like bell bottoms. And disco music.
Maury High's boys basketball team has reached back into the '50s to bring back an oldie but a goodie.
The Commodores' cheer these days is ``I like Ike.''
As in Itenous ``Ike'' Richardson.
The junior point guard scored 17 points and was modestly credited with eight assists as the Commodores beat Kempsville, 68-45, Tuesday night to move into tonight's championship game of the Catholic Holiday Invitational.
``Ike has shown flashes of that the last two years, but the last two nights he's put it all together,'' Maury coach Jack Baker said.
On the receiving end of many of Richardson's assists was 6-foot-6 senior Shaun Jackson, who finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
``When he's on . . . well, as long as he stays on like this we're going to states,'' Jackson said.
The Commodores (8-1), South Hampton Roads' fifth-ranked team, hope Richardson is ``on'' again when they meet Boys and Girls of Brooklyn, N.Y., (6-1) in tonight's 7:30 final at Catholic High.
``I thought we did a good job on Jackson,'' Kempsville coach Vernon King said. ``But Richardson ate us up. He sees the floor well when he penetrates. If he doesn't have the shot he either hits the big man or kicks it out to an open guy.''
That open guy was usually guard Tommy Spruill, who also finished with 17 points. Ray Heard added 10 points for Maury.
The Commodores remembered the sting of a year ago when Kempsville took a 3-9 record to Maury's gym and left with a 63-58 victory.
``We owed them one,'' Richardson said. ``We came out ready.''
The Commodores jumped to a 22-8 lead early in the second quarter and never led by less than nine after that.
Tom Detloff led Kempsville (4-3) with 14 points while Tyren Johnson had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
``We just didn't get Ty the ball enough,'' King said. ``Of course, their defense had something to do with that.''
In today's other games, Norfolk Academy will meet Catholic in the seventh-place game at 3 p.m., Cox takes on Andrew Jackson for fifth place at 4:30, and Kempsville faces Potomac for third place at 6.
BOYS & GIRLS 79, POTOMAC 75 Justin Watson scored 18 points and keyed a huge third-quarter rally by the Kangaroos.
Boys and Girls (6-1) also got 16 points and 14 rebounds from Donte Lane, 14 points from Kory Griffen and 13 from Neil St. John.
Tony Mortin scored 28 points, including seven consecutive baskets in the first half, as Potomac (4-4) ran to a 37-31 halftime lead.
Melvin Watson added 23 points and 12 rebounds for Potomac, but was whistled for a costly technical foul for taunting in the fourth quarter after being called for a personal foul attempting to stop Justin Watson on a breakaway layup.
COX 63, NORFOLK ACADEMY 33 Matt Whalen scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Falcons.
Cox (4-3) shot 52 percent from the field and raced to a 36-12 halftime lead as sophomore point guard Carl Lentz marked his varsity debut by scoring 14 points and handing out four assists.
Xavier Wilson added 11 points.
Colston Jones led Norfolk Academy (2-8) with 12 points.
JACKSON 70, CATHOLIC 54 Vincent Smalls scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Andrew Jackson.
Andrew Jackson (4-6) posted a 46-27 rebounding advantage, with Shake Alston grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds and adding 11 points.
Andrew Prickett led Catholic (2-6) with 15 points and Jimmy Whitehead had 12. by CNB