THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110584
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
D.J. Dunbar's memories of his team's last-second loss to Indian River in the Southeastern District boys basketball tournament title game a year ago are still painfully vivid.
But he made major headway in pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind Tuesday night.
Dunbar's acrobatic lefthanded layup with eight seconds left gave Churchland its only lead of the fourth quarter, 60-59. He then deflected a James Boyd pass at the other end in the closing seconds to give the Truckers first place outright at this early juncture of the Southeastern's regular-season race.
Churchland, the area's fourth-ranked team, improved to 8-3 while keeping its district record a perfect 5-0. No. 6 Indian River fell to 5-3, 4-1.
``They beat us last year on a length-of-the-court pass with one second left,'' said Dunbar, referring to Indian River's 63-62 victory on Gerald Martin's basket. ``I was thinking about how much that hurt.''
But it is a uniquely different cast of players that Indian River took to Churchland this time.
The young Braves started two sophomores - guards Doug Basnight and David Selby - and freshman forward Jason Capel. After missing their first 10 shots, Indian River calmed down and started rolling in the second quarter - Capel had six of his team-high 14 points during the span - to lead, 28-24, at the half.
``It was just a matter of them realizing how important and how big a game this was,'' said Braves coach Freddie Spellman, who called time less than four minutes in. ``I don't know what I said during that timeout that got them going.
``Actually, I said a lot of things.''
The Braves continued to roll and led 38-30 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter after Ronnie Wilson converted an eight-foot baseline jumper.
Dunbar, last year's area player of the year, had only six points to that point and his play was sporadic. But he turned it on to finish with a game-high 21 points.
First he scored on a driving slam dunk through the lane. A minute later he had another dunk in transition. Then he drained a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter and pull the Truckers even at 47-47.
But the Braves would not melt and when Boyd, who finished with 11 points, scored on a reverse layup with four minutes remaining, Indian River led 56-51.
Churchland came roaring back behind two 3-pointers by point guard Mike Holland (15 points) and Indian River failed to convert a field goal the rest of the game.
Nonetheless, Basnight gave the Braves a 59-58 lead with 22 seconds remaining when he made the front end of a one-and-one.
When he missed the second free throw, Dion Langley grabbed the rebound, but the ball was batted around wildly before the Truckers got control and headed downcourt for Dunbar's winner.
``Mike and I looked at each other during a timeout and said, `We gotta do it,' '' Dunbar said.
In other Southeastern games:
GREAT BRIDGE 89, DEEP CREEK 85
Tony King scored 23 points and Torey Jordan added 15 for the visiting Wildcats (6-6, 3-2).
Mike Harrington had 24 points and Javon Artis added 18 for the Hornets (5-5, 3-2).
NORCOM 71, WILSON 62
Led by Victor Johnson's eight first-quarter points, the Greyhounds jumped out to a 32-9 lead.
Johnson and Jamal Price finished with 14 points each for Norcom (4-7, 3-2). Greg Catron added 10.
Darrius Edwards had 16 points and Perez Bottoms 14 for the Presidents (1-8, 1-4).
WESTERN BRANCH 60, OSCAR SMITH 59
Dre Bly, who finished with 14 points, made two free throws with three seconds remaining and Lorenzo Ferguson scored a game-high 18 for the Bruins (3-7, 1-4).
William Bonner had 15 for the Tigers (3-7, 0-5). ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER/
D.J. Dunbar skies for two of his 21 points, a night that will ease
the sting of last season's Churchland loss to Indian River in the
Southeastern final.
by CNB