ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM THE ROANOKE TIMES
Glenvar and Floyd County are part of a doubleheader at Radford University, and Liberty meets Martinsville at Rustburg to open play.
It's deja vu for some Timesland basketball teams in state tournament play this weekend.
Two squads face rematches with regular-season opponents, and two others meet teams they played in recent state tournaments.
Liberty (25-1) seeks its third consecutive victory over Martinsville (16-8) at 7 p.m. today in an all-Timesland Group AA quarterfinal at Rustburg High School. The Minutemen opened the season with a 68-56 victory over the Bulldogs, then came from 18 points down to win 80-78 in Martinsville in early January.
The other rematch is Saturday at the Dedmon Center in Radford, where Pulaski County (23-1) takes on James Madison (26-2) in a Group AAA girls' quarterfinal. The Cougars will be trying to avenge their only loss, a 49-44 setback to the Warhawks in a Christmas tournament.
From seasons past, Glenvar (16-10) battles J.I. Burton (17-8) at 6:30 tonight at the Dedmon Center in the first of two Group A quarterfinals. The Highlanders waxed Burton 83-58 last year in the same round. In the second game tonight in Radford, Floyd County (23-3) meets Haysi (23-2) in a game where the past means nothing.
William Fleming (19-6) tests Hayfield (25-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday in a Group AAA quarterfinal at James Robinson High School in Fairfax. These teams are no strangers to each other, though no present players on either team were on the varsity when they last met in the state tournament. The Colonels destroyed Hayfield 60-40 in a 1994 first-round game at the Salem Civic Center, a year after they beat them 56-50 at Robinson.
The other state tournament game matches Salem (18-9) with Gate City (22-4) at Virginia High School of Bristol in a Group AA quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Saturday. These teams are meeting for the first time.
GROUP AAA: William Fleming is seeking a berth in the state semifinal round for the fourth time in five years. To do so, the Colonels will have to stop Hayfield guards Ronnell Felton and Steve Miles, who average a combined 38 points and 12 assists per game, as well as match up with 6-foot-8 Clayton Lea inside.
``We're really excited, because we've played our best basketball in the month of February,'' said Fleming coach Roland Lovelace.
The Colonels will counter Hayfield's perimeter players with depth led by forward Charles Burnette and guard Brad Dunleavy. Burnette has averaged 17 points in his past four games. Before he was slowed by foul problems against Potomac in the Northwest Region final, Dunleavy had scored 80 points in his five previous games.
``Brad and Charles have scored more, but our entire rotation has played better through the month of February,'' Lovelace said. ``Probably one of our strengths is that we have people coming off the bench and we don't lose a lot.''
Pulaski County's girls have a score to settle with Madison that goes beyond this season's loss. The Cougars have been eliminated in the quarterfinal round by the Warhawks the past two years, and James Madison beat Pulaski County 65-47 in the 1991 Group AAA championship game.
``The circumstances are very different from our first game,'' said Buddy Farris, the Cougars' coach. ``We were staying in a motel, it was our third game in three days and the girls had stayed up late that night. We weren't physically ready for the game, though we led most of the game.''
GROUP AA: Liberty hasn't lost a game to a public school since falling to Nansemond River 78-68 in a 1995 Group AA semifinal. Since then, the Minutemen have won 50 in a row, marred only by a 67-65 loss to national power Oak Hill Academy.
``The kids know what it took to get there last year,'' coach Mark Hanks said, referring to his 1996 state title team. ``A lot of schools wish they were here.''
Liberty has won three overtime games in a season marked by some memorable comebacks
``We take fewer 3s than we did last year,'' Hanks said. ``We're still jump shot oriented, [but] we're capable of scoring more points inside.''
Martinsville is coming off a 67-58 loss to Gate City in which it attempted 24 3-point shots.
``We haven't taken that many all year long. We've been averaging six or seven,'' said Martinsville coach Troy Wells. ``It was a case where a kid hit one or two early and had the green light. Everyone else thought they had it, too.''
Salem and Gate City are senior-dominated clubs. Both have lost overtime games to Liberty.
``As I told the kids, we're just going to have to regroup,'' coach Charlie Morgan said of his team wasting a 17-point lead and losing 63-60 to Liberty in the Region III championship game.
GROUP A: Glenvar has won nine consecutive games and 13 of 14. The Highlanders will try to contain J.I. Burton point guard Doug Campbell (24.3 points per game), who is headed to Clinch Valley next season.
``I know Campbell is a good guard, but we've faced good guards,'' said Art Lawrence, Glenvar's coach. ``We won't be intimidated by them. I doubt if he's better than [William Byrd's] Mayo Wilson or [Floyd County's] Travis Cantrell
Burton upset Twin Springs 37-34, knocking off one of the state's top Group A teams.
``I'm getting mixed reports on that team,'' Lawrence said. ``I've heard they like uptempo, and then I've heard they spread the floor and sag on defense in a zone.''
Floyd County faces a challenge against Haysi. The Buffaloes won their first 19 games, but are 4-3 since then with two losses to Glenvar and one to Giles.
``It hasn't fallen our way, because it came down to the last possession two times against Glenvar,'' said Alan Cantrell, Floyd County's coach. ``We're playing just as hard and practicing just as hard as we have all year.''
Cantrell has scouted Haysi.
``They like to run and they're loaded with good athletes,'' he said. ``They have at least four kids who can shoot the 3, and they pass the ball well. We like to play uptempo style, so it comes down to playing good defense and shooting the ball well.''
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