Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994 TAG: 9403120204
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
"I couldn't imagine anything like this. If we win it tomorrow night, I'll imagine it again."
The 6-foot-5 forward was on the junior varsity last year when Fleming played in the Group AAA boys' state basketball tournament. Now he's about to help the Colonels try to win a state championship after they blew past South Lakes 71-57 on Friday night for their sixth consecutive tournament victory by more than 10 points.
Fleming faces Meadowbrook of Richmond at 8:45 p.m. today. The Monarchs coasted past Central Region rival Petersburg 69-55 in a semifinals.
Derrick Hines again served as the catalyst for Fleming, though this time he had to rely on his passing. The junior point guard had 13 assists, but he had an off night shooting, making only one of eight field-goal attempts.
"In the open court, he's terrific," said Wendell Byrd, the South Lakes coach. "We wanted to slow Hines gets big assist. B7 him down. Defensively, we did a good job cutting off his scoring.
"Then he did a great job hitting the open man. So I guess we accomplished 50 percent of our objective."
Fleming broke on top early. William Fitzgerald's jumper made it 8-6, and the Colonels (20-5) never trailed again.
Fleming opened a lead of 14 points midway through the second quarter. By halftime, though, the Seahawks (22-7) were only eight down, and the Reston team was happy to be that close.
The Colonels controlled the rebounding in the opening half with a 23-15 edge. Also, Fleming's Reggie Reynolds had virtually removed Troy Allen, South Lake's premier player, from the offense by holding him to six points.
"We wanted anyone but No. 44 [Allen] to bring the ball up," Reynolds said. "We wanted to take him out of running the offense."
Explaining how his team fell behind, Byrd said: "They [the Colonels] had some quick releases. That really put us in a hole and made it difficult to come back against such a good team.
"If we had shot as we have been [during postseason play], it could have been a different story."
In the second half, both teams came out sluggishly. Fleming recovered first and went on a 13-2 run, with Fitzgerald scoring six points. Stokes' follow shot capped a surge in which Fleming took a 50-33 lead.
"We played extremely well tonight - in spots," said Fleming coach Burrall Paye, who had to call a timeout when a run by the Seahawks whittled the Colonels' lead to 13 points midway through the final period.
"Maybe we lost our focus for a couple of minutes," Hines said. "They couldn't capitalize on that. So I felt like we had them for the whole game."
The Colonels again had balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Fitzgerald led both teams with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Hines dealt out a little misery each quarter. He had 13 assists - as many as the entire South Lakes team - and had three in each of the first three quarters before adding four in the final period. He was two short of the state tournament record.
"As long as I could make my penetration moves and they didn't go to a 1-3-1 zone, I figured we were OK," Hines said.
About the only things that got Fleming's attention were blocked shots. South Lakes' Lansdale McCallum had seven of the Seahawks' 10 blocks before he fouled out.
Reynolds, a starter on last year's team that lost in a semifinal, is amazed to have a chance at making up for the frustration.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't think we'd make it this far," he said. "But people stepped up their game.
"The most important thing is that we're here and can show people that we can win it."
by CNB