Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170199
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Patrick Henry is living up to its motto of worst to first.
The Patriots clinched a tie and took control of the Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball race Wednesday by rallying in the fourth quarter for a 66-60 victory over Cave Spring.
Last season, the Patriots struggled to a 4-17 record and a last-place finish. Now PH (14-4 overall, 6-2 in the RVD) will win the title if the Knights (9-8, 4-2) are unable to sweep their two remaining district games against William Fleming at home on Friday and at Franklin County on Saturday.
Fleming, the preseason favorite and defending champion, is out of title contention. The regular-season winner secures a spot in the Northwestern Region tournament.
"Now I'm rooting for William Fleming," said Woody Deans, PH's coach. "I've never pulled for Fleming in my life, but I will be Friday."
Cave Spring built a 55-46 lead with 7 minutes, 22 seconds left as James Irvin sank a short jumper. It appeared the Knights would clinch a tie for the RVD title, but the Patriots went to "junk" defenses.
Quinton Twine took on Matt Matheny man-to-man while the other four PH players went to a diamond zone. Matheny had one shot the rest of the game.
"Through the years, who has played more junk defenses than us?" Deans asked. "Junk defenses have been kind to us."
"That's what junk defenses are made for, but we have some other people who can score," said Rick Crotts, Cave Spring's coach.
Until this point, the Knights had gotten weak-side help on defense and made PH struggle inside. Then, Cave Spring paid a toll against the taller Patriots, who outrebounded the Knights 16-7 in the final two quarters.
Chris Combs put the Patriots ahead as he barged in for an off-balance shot, drew a foul and hit the free throw to end a 10-0 PH run that made it 56-55.
"I don't know what [kind of shot] it was, but I was underneath the basket and just threw it up [as I was fouled]. It went in," said Combs, who shared PH scoring honors with Shannon Taylor as each player had 16 points.
Cave Spring's last lead came as Irvin connected to make it 57-56 with 3:29 left, but Eugene Cook tied the score with one free throw and, after a swap of turnovers, Mo Preston's shot from the side put the Patriots ahead for good at 59-57 with 1:55 left.
The Knights hit only 5 of 20 shots from 3-point range and missed a couple in the final few minutes.
"If we go inside, what are we going to get?" asked Crotts. "Besides, 3-point shooting is our game."
Combs and Preston hit two free throws in the final 35 seconds to offset a 3-point shot by Jeff Lang that closed the gap to 62-60.
"Lang was talking trash to me at the foul line," said Preston, whose shots with 17.9 seconds left clinched the victory. "Over at Cave Spring I was talking trash to him when he hit late free throws. So I nailed mine today as a little payback."
It was an odd game. PH had 11 steals and 11 assists while making 11 of 19 free throws. Preston had four steals and six assists while scoring 14 points.
Matheny led Cave Spring with 19 points, but 17 came in the first half. Irvin added 16, 13 in the second half. PH fell behind on a poor second-half start, when the Patriots turned over the ball on six of their first seven possessions.
Neither team shot particularly well: Cave Spring made only 25 of 55 field-goal attempts; the Patriots were a shade better at 27-of-56.
by CNB