Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992 TAG: 9203010212
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Patriots completed an unbeaten season in the district by stepping around a couple of trouble spots in beating William Fleming 73-68 for their third victory over the Colonels this season.
With the victory, PH locked up the best path for making the Group AAA tournament for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past five seasons. PH needs to beat only the winner of a first-round Northwestern Region game between Woodbridge and Albemarle to qualify for the Group AAA tournament. PH will play that game Thursday at Salem High.
The road is a lot tougher for the Colonels. They must play a first-round game at Halifax County on Tuesday and if they win that will go to Fauquier County in the semis for a shot at the state tournament.
About the only thing PH (22-1) was unable to do was to shake the young Colonels (13-9), who have improved immensely since the first of the season. The difference Saturday at the Salem Civic Center in front of 5,490 fans might have been the announcement Friday that no PH player was picked to the first team by the coaches.
"Everyone was disappointed and we wanted to take it out on Fleming," said PH sophomore Curtis Staples, who scored 22 points to lead the Patriots. "We're ranked No. 1 in the state and it's hard to believe no one made it."
Timmy Basham added: "We felt like someone should have made it. It got us a little fired up, but if that's the way they picked it, that's the way it goes."
Still, Basham put together his best game this year in the final three quarters. With Fleming being outrebounded and trailing the Colonels after one quarter, Basham took control of the boards. He had 13 rebounds and scored 18 points, Shannon Taylor added 15 and point guard Troy Manns, who dished out eight assists, in leading PH.
"I let the game come to me," said Basham. "I got a lot of my points on stickbacks."
By intermission, PH built a 33-26 lead after outrebounding Fleming 10-6 in the second period. The Colonels dominated the boards 13-8 in the opening period, but for the final three quarters, the Patriots had a 29-16 margin.
PH's rebounding was surprising because 6-foot-7 Jonas Callis was in foul trouble and played very little. He got only three rebounds and three points.
"Our strength is our depth," said PH coach Woody Deans. "Tonight, Timmy, Shannon and Curtis had real good games and Troy hit free throws down the stretch."
With the board strength, came points. Staples, Taylor and Basham did most anything they wanted to as PH went ahead 56-41 with 7:11 left.
"We're a very good offensive team, but we're not great defensively yet," Fleming coach Burrall Paye said. "We're not physically strong enough yet defensively. That comes with age."
But the Colonels weren't through. Fleming gunners Derrick Hines and Carlos Rhodes started hitting. They had three 3-point goals between them and 15 points as Fleming scored 27 in the final quarter.
Fleming could get no closer than four points as Manns hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minutes while Basham and Staples hit two each. Staples' free throws with 30 seconds left made it 71-65 and clinched the victory. \
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB