THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270209
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
When Maury and Norfolk Academy meet in basketball it's supposed to be a mismatch and Tuesday's first-round clash in the Catholic High Holiday Invitational played true to form.
The second-ranked Commodores fought through a first-half malaise and then used a 16-1 third-quarter run to put away the Bulldogs 80-55.
Maury improved its unbeaten start to 9-0 and senior point guard Ike Richardson says the Commodores are for real.
``I think we're as a good as our record,'' Richardson said. ``We work hard every day and deserve all the credit we get.''
Richardson, who seems to save his best performances for the best opponents, scored only seven points.
But his second-half defense on Juraj Podvorac was instrumental in cutting off the Bulldogs' penetration and igniting the Commodores' running game.
``He (Podvorac) is a good player,'' Maury coach Jack Baker said. ``They were hurting us bad with penetration and Ike took that away.''
Podvorac scored nine of his 12 points in the first half when he went to the foul line 10 times. He scored five points during a 14-4 run that gave the Bulldogs their only lead at 21-20.
The score was tied at 24 when Maury's Tim Sweeney made back-to-back three-point plays to put the Commodores back in front for good.
``As a team we weren't hitting so coach said take it to to the hole,'' Sweeney said.
Maury's second-half run was all stickbacks, layups and free throws. Ricardo Trevisan scored six points, Richardson five, T.J. Spruill three and Sweeney two.
The Commodores led 54-36 when Norfolk Academy finally called a timeout.
Baker thinks the Commodores are capable of playing that well for longer stretches once the players become completely comfortable with each other. Only Richardson and Spruill had logged significant minutes for Maury entering this season.
As for the other three starters, Trevisan transferred from Granby along with sixth man Jake Schultz, Sweeney was on the junior varsity and forward Stacy Gregg is a freshman.
``We have a ways to go before the chemistry meshes,'' Baker said. ``We're playing good basketball now, but we're playing it in spurts.''
In other games:
McClancey 56, Granby 37: The Comets jumped to a 16-9 lead after one quarter and then went ice cold. McClancey, from Queens, N.Y., outscored Granby 12-0 over the first five seconds quarter to take a 21-16 lead and never trailed again.
Granby (5-2) made only nine of 36 shots from the field after McClancey tied the score at 16-16. The Comets also were outrebounded 44-32.
Michael Beckles led McClancey with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Tirasn Matthews topped Granby with 11 points and Ray Martin grabbed nine rebounds.
Cox 77, Nashua 59: Jason Donahoe scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out four assists for the No. 8 Falcons.
Jamie Irivne also scored 18, connecting on 9 of 10 field goal attempts.
Ben Green added 17 points, eight boards and a team-high eight assists and Carl Lentz scored 10.
Catholic 66, Mathews 48: Byron Whitehead had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the host Crusaders.
Led by Anthony Hawthorne with 10, Catholic outrebounded the Blue Devils, 53-39. Ryan Andrews and Eric Washburn added nine each.
Andrews also scored 13 points, Washburn had 12 and Jeff Alberts added 11. Hawthorne handed out four assists.
Tracy Pope paced Mathews with 15 points.The Athletes of the Week features are taking a Christmas-vacation break and will return to the high school report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON, The Virginian-Pilot
Granby's Michael Mitchell, left, and Michael Beckles of Monsignor
McClancey go for a ball in McClancey's 56-37 Catholic Invitional
win.
by CNB