Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994 TAG: 9402270155
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Because of their efforts, the Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball tournament title belonged to William Fleming.
The Colonels used their furious fourth quarter to knock off regular-season champion Patrick Henry 77-63 at the Salem Civic Center.
The victory also gives Fleming (15-5) the district's top seeding in next week's Northwestern Region tournament. The Colonels will be home against Hylton, the No. 2 seed from the Cardinal District.
The Patriots (15-6) will travel to play the Cardinal tournament champion, Gar-Field, a 50-49 winner over Hylton on Saturday night.
With 3 minutes, 45 seconds to go, the score was tied at 59. Down the stretch, though, Fleming found ways to pull away while PH couldn't find a way to score.
Ten seconds after the Patriots had tied the score, Hines hit an 18-foot jumper while being fouled. He missed the free throw that would have given him a three-point play, but the basket still loomed large because it gave the Colonels the lead for good.
"We felt like we had to hit it quickly and jump on them," Hines said. "We stuck in there. We knew it would be close [in the fourth quarter]. And the team came through for each other."
Hines had eight points in the final period and finished with a game-high 21. His efforts, in the fourth quarter and in the tournament, earned him the MVP award.
Late in the game, Fitzgerald started going inside more and more. Virtually every time, the 6-foot-5 forward either scored, was fouled or both.
"I was in foul trouble, so I couldn't assert myself until the last quarter," Fitzgerald said. "But Coach [Burrall Paye] told me to go out and play strong."
Fitzgerald was strong to the tune of 11 points in the final period. To do that, he found a way to cope with Patrick Henry's Shannon Taylor, a 6-5 forward and the district's player of the year.
"Quick feet," Fitzgerald said of his secret to success against Taylor. "You can't go around him, so you have to use your feet."
Despite the scoring of Fitzgerald, Hines and Co. - Reggie Reynolds scored five of his 20 in the fourth - it was the Fleming defense that dealt the final blows.
PH could have tied the score with 3:14 to go, but Chris Combs missed the second free throw in a bonus situation, leaving the score 61-60. After that, PH scored just three points - a 3-pointer by Maurice Preston with a minute to play that cut the Fleming lead to 71-63. PH then missed three shots and two free throws.
"They just outplayed us in the fourth quarter," said Woody Deans, the PH coach. "We did a good job in the third quarter taking the shots we wanted. But Fleming went to a zone in the fourth quarter. And we didn't make the shots we took."
Taylor scored scored 16 points, 10 in the third quarter, to lead PH.
by CNB