THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702160264
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REA McLEROY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 34 lines
Peninsula Catholic's Donte Perry read a preview that said the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools boys basketball tournament final would be a blowout - a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy blowout.
He remembered the last matchup between the two, when the Saints blew past his team 74-59. Perry knew the Knights had never won a TCIS tournament game and that no Peninsula team had reached the finals since 1988.
Then the 5-foot-9 senior went out and commanded the teams' intense matchup, driving through the tall Saints lineup and posting a game-high 21 points Saturday night as Peninsula Catholic won its first TCIS tournament title 52-43.
Perry was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
``Donte really hurt us with his penetration,'' N-SA coach Rick Van Owen said. ``He's a great player.''
Perry scored seven of the Knights' 14 points in the crucial fourth quarter and calmly orchestrated the hard-fought final period.
``Staying calm is easy, you just have to block everybody out,'' Perry said. ``Now that's the hard part.''
The regular-season champion Saints (16-6) took an early lead, but Peninsula Catholic scored six points in the final minute of the first quarter to close the gap to 14-13. But the Knights (15-12) slowly began to pull away in the third and never again relinquished the lead.
N-SA made just one of six shots the final two minutes.
``They wanted it more,'' Warren Carroll, who scored 21 for the Saints, said. ``We wanted it more (last time) because we wanted to prove we were the better team.''