Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 15, 1992 TAG: 9203150204
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DALEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
It's safe to say that Franklin won't have a happy story to tell about his trip to Southwestern Virginia after he was hounded by the PH junior. Basham did a little bit of everything in pacing the Patriots to an 83-56 romp in a Group AAA state tournament quarterfinal game.
Basham, a forward, got the major part of the assignment on Franklin as the Patriots removed the guard from the Chargers' offense. Basham also did his usual job rebounding and, after missing his first three shots, came back to score 17 points.
The victory puts PH in Friday's semifinals at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville against Highland Springs (25-2), which beat Kecoughtan 65-63 Saturday.
Franklin scored 20 points, below his 23.6 average. However, he had only three first-half field goals and by halftime the Patriots (25-1) had a 49-23 lead.
"I wanted to make him shoot over me," said Basham, who at 6 feet 5 towered over 5-11 Franklin. "But I had to give him enough room so he couldn't go by me. He's so quick, but I think my height bothered him because he didn't try to shoot over me that much."
PH coach Woody Deans used three players on Franklin at different times, but for most of the evening Basham had the responsibility.
"We knew if we used one man, he might wear down," said Deans, who had guards Curtis Staples and Troy Manns spelling Basham.
"Coach Deans felt if we held him under his average, we had a good chance of winning," said Manns, who showed no ill effects from his sprained ankles suffered a week earlier in the Northwestern Region title game at Fauquier.
Chantilly coach Jim Smith was impressed with the Basham, offensively and defensively.
"If we put a quicker guy on him, he'd post him up. If we put a bigger guy on him, he'd take him on the perimeter," Smith said.
The Patriots made 19 of 34 field-goal attempts in the opening half to put Chantilly (19-10) out of the game. By halftime, Manns had three steals and 6-7 Jonas Callis had eight of his game-high 12 rebounds.
"The problem was that they were quicker than us on the perimeter and we had a problem matching up with them inside," said Smith. "We had to sag and [risk] them shooting on the perimeter. If they shot the ball like they did, we couldn't beat them. But I'm not sure if everything went right for us that we could beat this team."
Basham scored 11 points in a second-quarter blitz that saw the Patriots outscore the Chargers 31-13.
"It's hard to do well on all three phases [defense, rebounding and scoring]," said Basham. "If you guard a good player, you can get tired and it's hard to rebound."
Deans, who had to call a timeout in the third quarter when PH started making turnovers, said, "The first half was as good as we can play. Maybe we became complacent and we had to remind them that Franklin is such an explosive player, they can come back on you."
Shannon Taylor came off the bench to lead PH's scoring with 18 points. He was one of four Patriots with more than 10 points.
"I think we were too quick," Taylor, a 6-5 sophomore, said. "Coach Deans said this was a good team, but if we play our game, we don't think anyone can beat us." \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB