Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200275
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FLEMING FIT TO BE TIED IN TITLE RACE
The Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball game between William Fleming and Cave Spring on Friday night brought to mind an assortment of cat-and-mouse cartoon confrontations.Sylvester and Tweety Bird. Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. The Colonels and the Knights.
Beep! Beep!
Entertaining but hardly breathtaking drama.
Every time gritty Cave Spring got close, Fleming was gone in a flash. The Colonels pulled away for good in the second half and prevailed 99-76.
The victory assured Fleming of at least a first-place tie in the RVD. Fleming completed its regular season 15-5, 7-1 in the district. Pulaski County, also with one district loss, can tie for the regular-season crown with a victory tonight against Franklin County in Rocky Mount.
Should Pulaski win tonight, Fleming will have a playoff game against the Cougars on Monday at Cave Spring. Pulaski dealt the Colonels their only district loss this season, 70-69, on Tuesday.
On Friday night, Fleming jumped to a 9-0 lead before Cave Spring coach Rick Crotts called a timeout. The Knights' only district win this season came on a forfeit from Patrick Henry, and they appeared to be overmatched against the ninth-ranked Group AAA team in the state.
However, led by Robbie Hibbs' outside shooting and Matt Matheny's hustle, Cave Spring made a gallant recovery. The Knights closed to 11-10 quickly. Fleming's press - "It's famous statewide," Crotts said - forced numerous turnovers and the Colonels opened a 29-15 margin early in the second quarter.
The Knights again made a comeback, narrowing the gap to 38-35 with 2:18 left in the half, before the Colonels turned up the defensive pressure once again.
A batch of Cave Spring turnovers and a dozen Colonels points later, and it was good night, Knights.
It was senior night at Fleming's gym, and the honorees put on a show. Carlos Rhodes, the district's leading scorer, finished with 20, although he made only eight of 23 field-goal attempts, some from parking-lot distance. Rhodes had ample support, with four other Colonels in double figures.
Matheny and Hibbs paced Cave Spring's effort with 20 and 16 points, respectively.
"Our guys played with a lot of heart," Crotts said. "Fleming has a lot of quickness and intensity, and we responded well to that. I want our team to know that we can play with Fleming. Of course, their athleticism took care of us in the second half."
Fleming coach Burrall Paye was pleased with the win but was concerned about the Colonels' defensive play. "We've got to shore up our defense," he said.
Paye said he would attend tonight's Franklin County-Pulaski game but was not concerned about a potential playoff involving his squad.
"Shoot, I've been in six or seven of them since I've been here," said Paye, in his 16th season at Fleming. \
see microfilm for box score