Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although the purists would find various aspects of the Roanoke Valley District opener lacking, nobody could fault the Colonels' resolve as they won their sixth game in seven starts.
Part of the problem revolved around a cruel William Fleming schedule.
``That was our third game in four nights and we have another one tomorrow'' at Heritage, said Burrall Paye, the Colonels' coach. ``I'm not complaining, mind you, but even an NBA team would get tired playing that many games.''
Even Derrick Hines, the Colonels splendid left-handed point guard, felt it.
``Our legs are a little gone,'' said Hines, who scored 20 points. ``We were a little lackadaisical at times; we need to be more consistent. But this is good for us. Coach told us if we intend to win the state, then we're going to have to win some games back-to-back.''
Fleming was the Group AAA runner-up last season, but the Colonels aren't playing up to that level, yet.
The Colonels seemed on the verge of blowing out PH (3-4 overall, 0-1 in the district) on a number of occasions, but the Patriots kept hanging around like unwanted guests. PH did so by maintaining a deliberate tempo, crashing the boards and attacking in defensive waves with liberal use of the bench.
``We had the game at the pace we wanted it,'' said Woody Deans, the Patriots' coach.
Fleming didn't gain control of the backboards until the fourth quarter, when it enjoyed an 11-8 edge to finish with a 32-30 advantage.
``Next time, we'll have our big man [injured Sterling Tate],'' Paye said.
Fleming got five field goals from four players (two from Hines) in a 10-2 run that began the third quarter and produced a 48-32 lead. But the Patriots wouldn't buckle and actually had the lead down to nine points (63-54) on a Chris Combs stick-back with 1 minute, 42 seconds left. Hines then proceeded to can six of his last seven free throws in the final 50 seconds to keep PH at bay.
Hines made 11 of 13 from the line and went 7-for-9 in the fourth quarter.
``I didn't play a very good first half,'' he said. ``I wasn't shooting well, so I tried to get my teammates in the game and come through for us in the end.''
In the first half, the teammate Hines sought most often was Keath Hampton, a whip of a guard who buried four 3-pointers and went 8-for-11 from the floor on the way to 20 points in the first 16 minutes.
``I like to play PH,'' he said. ``I know just about everybody on their team.''
PH clamped down on Hampton in the second half with a variety of defenders conspiring to deny him the ball and hold him to only four more points. But defense, rebounding and ballhandling (the Patriots had only 11 turnovers, three fewer than Fleming) wasn't the problem. Shooting was.
PH made 21 of 56 shots (37.5 percent), going 9-for-25 in the first half.
Fleming resorted to a 1-3-1 zone in the second half and kept a watchful eye on Combs, the PH muscleman, and limited him to eight of his 22 in the second half.
``The zone pretty much shut us down,'' Deans said. ``We didn't have a poor game, we just shot the ball poorly.''
by CNB