Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993 TAG: 9312080186
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But be it raw or well done, this Fleming edition already has shown an aptitude for an old Colonels speciality: They can barbecue people with defense.
Halifax County visited Tuesday night and was a serious contestant in this non-district game until there was 4 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first quarter.
At that point, the Comets led 4-2. They didn't score again until Steven Leigh, left free on the trap, squirted past the press for an easy layup with 2:15 left in the quarter. In the interim, Fleming had scored 14 unanswered points and went on to win 76-50.
Stopped those Comets dead in their tracks, did the Colonels (2-0).
"We've played awfully good defense so far," Paye said. "But we're so young, we're having trouble on offense."
Fleming didn't look so lame offensively when it went on a 16-2 tear to open the third quarter. Of course the press and the resulting torrent of turnovers made for some point-blank shots.
"This is never an easy place to play, but I don't feel like we can measure up right now," Halifax coach Don Thompson said.
Halifax can make a case for its youth movement after losing all five starters from a Group AAA Northwestern Region tournament team last year. But then Fleming isn't exactly elderly with one senior starter (Reggie Reynolds) to go with three juniors and a sophomore.
It was the junior whippet of a point guard, Derrick Hines, who kept flogging Fleming up and down the floor on the break. Hines scored 12 points and drove the Comets (0-2) to distraction with his passing and drives.
William Fitzgerald, a 6-foot-6 junior, and Sterling Tate, a 6-5 sophomore who came off the bench, combined with James Stokes, another 10th-grader, to abuse Halifax inside. Fitzgerald scored a game-high 21, Tate added 12 and Stokes chipped in 11.
"We're vulnerable inside, as you can see," Thompson said.
Keith Hampton, another reserve, canned 10 points as Fleming was putting the finishing touches on the rout.
That was the part of the game Paye didn't like much.
"After we went up 57-29, we decided we weren't going to stop anybody at all," he said.
It wasn't as though Halifax was running wild offensively. Dallas Maxey hit a 3-pointer and finished with a team-high 12 points. Aundray Sims had 11.
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB