Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020355
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
William Fleming goes to the Northwestern Region and Cave Spring stays home.
"We've been in the region ever since a man named [Jimmy] Carter was the president," said Fleming coach Burrall Paye after his team held off the Knights 70-67 in the semifinals of the Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball tournament Friday.
Paye was nearly correct in his historical reference. The Colonels (15-6) started going to regional tournaments in the spring of 1980 - two months after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president succeeding Jimmy Carter. In 22 years of coaching high school teams in Virginia, Paye has sent 18 to regional tournaments.
On the other hand, no one can remember the last time Cave Spring made a regional tournament. The Knights may never have made it as a Group AAA squad. It's been particularly frustrating the past six years, with the Knights losing five times in games they could have won to make the regionals.
This one hurt a little more because Cave Spring (12-10), down 65-56 with 1:35 left, had a chance to tie at the end. Duane Webb's 3-point attempt was tipped by Fleming's Terrell Milam. Would it have gone without the block? "I don't know," Webb said.
The Knights trailed the entire game because Fleming opened with a barrage of 3-point goals. Champ Hubbard hit four in the first quarter and eight for the game. The killer came when Milam connected from the corner with 1:35 left for the nine-point lead.
"Coach Paye told me to come out shooting," said Hubbard, a 43 percent shooter from 3-point range. "I've been in a slump lately. I was looking for whatever came open and they [Cave Spring] wouldn't give me anything inside."
"I never expected them to shoot them and never expected them to make them," said Cave Spring coach Joe Davis. "Everything they took, 3's or 2's, they made."
Down 25-16, the Knights spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of a hole. They nearly succeeded in the third quarter when Mike Fayed, who had 24 points, hit a trey to make it 49-45. But Milam came right back with a 3-pointer, making it 52-45.
Then came the stretch that did more harm than any other to the Knights. Fleming went 5:27 without hitting a field goal before Tee Jennings escaped for a layup with 3:28 left. The Knights hadn't taken advantage of Fleming's drought and had chopped only two points off the lead so that Jennings' shot left the Colonels with a 60-54 advantage.
The final 1:35 was hectic. Jeremy Blackstock, who scored a game-high 27 on 12-of-13 shooting from the floor for the Knights, got a layup with 28 seconds left to trim the Colonels' lead to 67-64. But Jennings, Timesland's fifth-leading free throw shooter, hit a pair four seconds later.
Fayed came back with a 3-point shot with 19 seconds remaining. Dontel Arrington responded with one free throw for Fleming at 0:14 to make it 70-67. The Knights' Andrew Shuck missed a 3-point try and the Colonels got it out of bounds with one tick left on the clock.
Hubbard, trying to inbound the ball, threw long for David Williams. "The man guarding me was tall and I was trying to throw it over him," said Hubbard, who was Fleming's quarterback.
The ball hit off the scoreboard, giving the Knights one last chance. "We had three options and the first was Fayed," said Davis of Cave Spring's best player. But Webb was the only one open and Milam got there just in time.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB