By Dave Morrison
Give Shady Spring credit.
A lot of credit.
A late edition to the Big Atlantic Classic field — late Friday evening, in fact — the Tigers not only showed up to face Roanoke Catholic, the Tigers battled.
They even held a momentarily lead on Virginia’s sixth-ranked private school in the second quarter.
The only thing Shady Spring didn’t do was win the game.
Despite 30 points from guard Erik Davis — including 8-of-14 on three pointers — Roanoke Catholic pulled away by pounding the ball inside late for a 77-63 win.
“I’ll tell you what, Shady Spring (6-8) has a nice little team with the freshman (Chase Connor) and the senior (Davis),” Roanoke coach Dennis Blanchard said. “What did the Davis kid have? Thirty? Impressive. I thought they fought us hard.”
Shady led 20-18 early in the second, but a 10-0 run by the Celtics gave them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Not that Shady didn’t hang around.
Davis hit a three to end the half — Roanoke led 40-32 at that point — and he had three more treys early in the second that were part of a 15-8 run that helped the Tigers pull to within four at 48-44.
At that point, Roanoke went to its strength.
“They were hard to contain inside because of their size and that hurt us,” Shady Spring coach Steve Clark said. “But I’m proud of my kids.”
Roanoke’s persistence at pounding the ball inside resulted in the Celtics going ahead by as many as 22 — 70-48.
Up 56-48, Roanoke went on a 14-0 run.
But Shady answered with a 12-2 run to close to within 12 — including threes by Connor and Davis — to make it a ball game.
But Roanoke made its free throws down the stretch to win.
The fact that Shady lost by fewer points to Roanoke than Woodrow Wilson — a perennial basketball power — wasn’t lost on the Tigers.
“We came in the ball game to win, but if you look at it that way, I think you could say that was a moral victory for our guys,” Clark said. “I’m proud of them for fighting. That was a good team. We gained some confidence tonight.”
“I think we gained a lot of respect,” Davis said. “They beat one of the top programs in the state by 20 (Woodrow Wilson Friday night) and we only lost by 13. And we were in it. More than anything, this is a good test for us before we play Wyoming East Wednesday. It lets us know we can play with the best teams.”
Shady Spring hit 11 threes in the contest and all six of its free throws.
But the Tigers were outrebounded 43-25.
Kevin Goodson added 12 for Shady and Chase Connor 10.
Clarence Turpin led the Celtics with 20, Archie Hicklin 18 and 10 rebounds, Tim Westmoreland 13 and Ifane Anukaha 10.
Roanoke was a late edition itself but ended up playing three games, going 2-1, and is now 12-8 on the year.
“We enjoy coming up here,” Blanchard said. “We played in it a couple times when they had a national bracket. And every time we left here we went home and went on a run. Mr. (Jim) Justice and Mo Ball have been good to us. What they did in getting us here, they went above and beyond.”
Roanoke Catholic 77,
Shady Spring 63
Shady Spring (6-8)
Chase Connor 3-8 1-1 10, Corey Lilly 3-15 1-1 7, Kevin Goodson 5-9 2-2 12, Erik Davis 11-18 0-0 30, Matt Severt 1-9 2-2 4, Josh Richmond 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 23-62 6-6 63.
Roanoke Catholic (12-8)
Clarence Turpin 7-11 6-6 20, Archie Hicklin 9-14 0-1 18, Stephan Voulacic 0-3 0-0 0, Tim Westmoreland 4-8 3-4 13, Matt Moats 3-5 0-0 6, Richard Romeo 1-1 0-0 2, Ifane Anukaha 3-7 4-5 10, Nick Ollie 3-8 2-2 8. Totals: 30-57 15-18 77.
SS 16 16 16 15 — 63
RC 14 26 25 12 — 77
Three-point goals: SS: 11 (Connor 3, Davis 8); RC: 2 (Westmoreland 2); Fouled out: none.
