Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9010100017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B/1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: BOB TEITLEBAUM/SPORTSWRITER LENGTH: Medium
The victory gave the Panthers the Group AAA Northwestern Region crown, but both teams will play in the Group AAA tournament at Williamsburg. Franklin County (17-9) takes on Wakefield, which upset South Lakes and 6-foot-8 Duke signee Grant Hill, in the Northern Region finals. Potomac (23-4) now has the uneviable task of trying to stop Hill, one of the state's top players, in a first-round game at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
Potomac had a first-round regional home game and then took off for the wilds of South Central Virginia, where the Panthers upset Halifax County Thursday night. Then came the Saturday game in front of a packed house.
"We have a beautiful bus. We watched [the movie] Batman and two NBA tapes on the way here," said Kendall Hayes, Potomac's coach. "The only problem with the crowd tonight was that I couldn't communicate with the team.
"We kind of put all that traveling stuff behind us. Boys who are 17 or 18 years old can make a couple of bus trips and still play. But the big thing is we kept our composure when they made a run at us."
That run almost lifted Franklin County (17-8) to another improbable victory. The Eagles had stormed from behind to beat Fauquier County 88-87 Thursday night in the semi-final round with a fourth-quarter surge.
On Saturday, Franklin County wiped out most of Potomac's lead after the Panthers had gone ahead 48-36 late in the third quarter. Carlos Trotter got on e on a steal and then Travis Fuller hit a layup to beat the buzzer as he took a feed from Trotter.
Franklin County continued its run, closing 55-54 when Mark Mitchell, who had 41 points against Fauquier County, hit a 3-point shot with 4:39 left.
Then, the game turned. Franlin County missed two chances to take the lead. First, Tim Gill missed the front end of a one-and-one. Then, Mitchell misfired on a shot from way beyond the 3-point line.
"Mark had the green light on 3-point plays, but that was from 24 feet, said Ed Holstrom, Franklin County's coach.
Mitchell didn't disagree. "I thought I could hit it," he said. "But now that I think about it, I should have move it around more. If we could have gotten ahead and put a little pressure on them, I think we would have won."
Brian Burke, who led the Panthers with 16 points, then hit a couple of turnaround jumpers and Potomac had a 59-54 lead with 2:56 left.
Burke was Potomac's surprise weapon. The Eagles check B.J. Hawkins, the Panthers' leading scorer, most of the night. But Burke dominated inside, hitting eight of 14 shots.
"I told the kids he was right-handed and he liked to pivot inside [to his left] on the baseline," said Holstrom. "So we were supposed to have a man come to his left when he got the ball so he couldn't pivot inside. I even told them that during a timeout."
"I usually think I can make those shots," said Burke. "The thing is, some nights I'm off and some nights I'm on. I was off at Halifax County."
The tempo also went against Franklin County. Hayes said he wasn't about to get into a rapid-fire battle like the one the Eagles and Fauquier County staged in the semi-finals.
That disrupted Franklin County's shooting as the Eagles were an icy 22-of-60 from the floor; Potomac was 29-of-66. The Panthers also worked the boards with a 52-36 rebounding advantage as Diangelo Fisher came up with 11.
The Eagles' guards, Mitchell and Trotter, never did shake loose from an assortment of "junk" defenses used by Potomac. Combined, they were 9-of-26, with Trotter going 4-for-16.
"We used a box-and-one on both of them, a triangle-and-two on them and even matched up three on a man and played a two-man zone," said Hayes.
"We wanted the tempo up, but you have to shoot it well to maintain that tempo," Holstrom said. "Everytime we were on the verge of running, you'd hear a buzz in the crowd as the ball went up. Then when we missed, they'd have a letdown."
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