Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993 TAG: 9303120057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TIME HAS COME TO GET HOT
As high school basketball teams head into the state tournament quarterfinals this weekend, the question is which players and which teams will be hot at the right time.William Fleming's David Hutchinson and Cave Spring's Kelly Dierker have come to the front in late-season play.
Hutchinson has averaged 8.4 points since taking over at forward for Reggie Reynolds, who went down with an injury.
"Hutchinson has been playing very well," Fleming coach Burrall Paye said. "When Reggie went down, it enabled us to put David in so he could get more experience. Now Reggie still comes off the bench and helps us enormously."
Hutchinson will be on the spot Saturday when the Colonels meet Hayfield at James Robinson High in Fairfax at 7 p.m. If Fleming wins three more games, the Roanoke Valley District will have back-to-back boys' Group AAA state championships after Patrick Henry won last year.
Fleming must stop Hayfield's 6-foot-1 junior Ronnell Felton, who is averaging 30.1 points in postseason and had 37 in a game against Fairfax.
"I think we have to stop Felton. We'll work on some measure to do that," Paye said.
After averaging nine points during the girls' regular season, Dierker has a 15.2-point average for the Knights in five tournament games. That includes a career-high 22 points on Monday as she helped lead Cave Spring past George Washington of Danville 69-60 for the Group AAA Northwestern Region title.
The Knights are in their sixth consecutive state tournament, but they've never made it to the final. They'll start working on that task tonight at 7 against W.T. Woodson when the two teams meet at Robinson High.
Woodson's front line averages more than 6 feet, meaning it's important that the 5-10 Dierker continue to play well.
"Kelly's playing her best basketball," Cave Spring coach Linda Long said. "Amy Athey is doing her usual scoring [10.1 ppg.], but the other night she had 14 rebounds [in the regional championship game]."
Last year, it was Twin Springs' Landon Bays who had the hot hand. He had a career-high 33 points and Twin Springs bounced Covington 73-50 in a Group A state quarterfinal game. Bays gets another chance at Covington on Saturday at 4 p.m. when the teams hook up again for a Group A first-round game at Marion.
"I don't know if they're as good as last year. We're a different team. We only have one kid back who started against them last year," Covington coach Brad Morton said.
That returnee is junior Van Wallace (23.6 ppg.), who finished as Timesland's second-leading scorer.
"I think we've got a pretty good chance," Morton said. "The big thing is for us to break even on the boards. That will be a real key. We did in every game last week [at the Region C] except one, the game against Floyd County."
In another Group A game set for Marion at 8 p.m. Saturday, Floyd County plays Hurley. The Buffaloes, after going 14-6 during the season, stampeded to tournament titles in the Mountain Empire District and Region C.
"Five of the six losses we had were by a total of nine points," Buffaloes' coach Alan Cantrell. "They also came on the last possession of the game and two or three of those games were when the other team scored at the final buzzer."
Two Timesland Group AA teams play at Bassett. Tonight at 7:30, Laurel Park tackles Virginia High in a rematch of an early-season game. Martinsville meets Gate City on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a game that Bulldog coach Husky Hall hopes isn't his swan song.
Hall, 64, who has 552 victories, resigned his position as a teacher earlier this year. He has petitioned to remain as coach and the Martinsville school board will make a decision on that after the season.
"I want to come back to coach if they want me," said Hall, Virginia's most successful active public school coach. "The school board has said previously you have to be a teacher to coach, but they're checking through the state. This is something that hasn't happened in our school system.
"In a way, I'm worried it might be my last game. I just say that to myself. Hopefully it won't end. It'll be a day in the sun if we get a chance to go back to the final four after all the things we've done."
Laurel Park, the state's No. 1 ranked Group AA team, has handed Martinsville three of its losses. The Lancers (24-1) are in the state tournament for the fourth consecutive year and hope to make the semifinals for the third time. They have not made it to the title game.
Laurel Park beat Virginia High 60-40 in December.
"They're different. They've improved a lot," Lancers coach Frank Scott said. "They play a lot more full-court pressure defense."