FORT EUSTIS BRIEFS: FERGUSON SURVIVES SUNLIGHT, OPENER
By VICTORIA JONES Daily Press
No team likes to play in the first game of the tournament, especially when it's at 8:30 a.m., but Ferguson coach George Walters didn't mind too much. His Mariners defeated the Bruton Panthers 47-43 Wednesday.
''It's rough,'' said Walters. ''You can't see because of the sunlight coming in through the windows. ''Normally, we would have been in second period at 8:30. We've been practicing at 8:30 in the morning to get used to the early morning, but we didn't have to deal with the sun.
''It was at both ends of the floor and under the baskets, and that hurt both teams.''
Walters added that it was good to win the first game because the loser now plays in the 8:30 a.m. game today.
''In the first game of the tournament, it's a good feeling to win,'' said Walters.
''It's not so much how you win, but whether or not you win so you don't have to play in the first game the next morning.''
The Bruton and Ferguson teams were not the only people to make it to Anderson Field House early Wednesday morning. The official count for the crowd for the 8:30 a.m. game was 325.
TIPOFF MOVES. Three of the morning games of the tournament finished ahead of schedule, and tipoffs for the rest of the Geico division games were moved up by about half an hour - Game No. 2, Menchville vs. York began at 11:30 a.m. instead of noon, the Tabb-Oakton game began at 1:10 p.m., 35 minutes ahead of schedule.
The Phoebus-Curtis game began 20 minutes ahead of schedule at 3:10 p.m., but only after an extended break after the Tabb-Oakton game.
''Normally we're waiting for the games to start,'' said tournament director Michael Cicero. ''This doesn't happen that much. Usually, there's a little break between the morning games and the evening games and between the other games, but now the breaks were just be a little longer.''