Park View-South Hill returned from the halftime break so late Saturday night at the Salem Civic Center there was no time for warmups.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, who were up 27-25, nobody remembered to bring the offense out of the locker room.
Taking advantage of an early third quarter run, and holding Park View to 19 second half points, Northside punched its ticket to the 3A state semifinals this Friday at the Virginia Commonwealth Siegel Center in Richmond with the 65-46 win. The Vikings will face Hopewell in a 3:45 tipoff.
The prospects for an all-Roanoke Valley matchup failed to materialize when Hopewell came away with a decisive victory Saturday night against Cave Spring. at VCU.
For one half Saturday night in Salem. it looked like Northside may be in trouble for advancing.
Starters Kendrick Tucker and Nick Price spent much of the half on the bench saddled with two fouls, and Park View, despite having a 5-point lead and in the bonus with 1:40 left in the first quarter, failed to seize the opportunity to put more separation on the scoreboard the rest of the half.
“In the first half we got in foul trouble and didn’t make shots,” Northside head coach Billy Pope noted. “Games have a way of taking a life of their own. You go into games and you have all these things that you want to have happen. And, it’s like the worse-case scenarios are happening.”
“The main thing was we kept it close,” Pope said. “Park View was attacking and we were only down two at the half. It could have easily been more.”
Park View scored the opening basket of the third quarter to go up 29-25, then Northside turned the game in the blink of an eye.
Senior Carlos Basham scored on an inbounds pass that caught the Dragons napping, then Basham got a feed off a steal for a monster slam dunk that ignited the Northside fan base.
Before you could say ‘tie-game’. Tucker stole the Park View inbounds for a lay-in and followed with a deep trey the next time down the court. Not to be denied, Tucker followed with an old-fashion three-point play, Shey Webb hit a jumper from the paint and Price converted a pair of free throws that completed the 16-2 blitz. Suddenly Northside was up 41-31. The Dragons would get to within 5 on a Charlzae Holmes free throw late in the third, but the Vikings finished the quarter with a 6-0 run to head to the fourth up 47-36.
Northside kept the pedal to the metal and pushed their lead to 65-44 with just over a minute left, and after both teams cleared the bench with 1:02 remaining, the Vikings coasted home for the 19-point victory.
“The second half was beautiful,” Pope said with a grin. “These guys have been through a lot. It’s a great feeling to be going back to Richmond. This year we’ve had a target on us and we’ve earned every point.”
Tucker led the Northside offense with a game-high 22 points. Price added 13 for the Vikings. The Northside defense rattled Park View with 22 turnovers.
Junior Lamari House paced the Dragons with 13 points, with sophomore Keldon Johnson adding 12.
Bill Turner
