Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501230075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fleming (10-1 overall, 3-0 RVD), which held a 17-point halftime lead, withstood a blistering second-half offensive attack by the Knights to post an 81-73 victory.
The Colonels (10-1 overall, 3-0 in the RVD) led 37-20 at intermission and had shut down the Knights' offense.
Cave Spring (9-6, 3-1) closed the gap but never came closer than six despite hitting 12 3-point shots for the game and 11 in the second half.
Eight Knights, including all five starters, made at least one 3-pointer. Fleming, though, had all the answers offensively.
James Stokes was unstoppable inside with a game-high 23 points and 15 rebounds, including some monster dunks. When the Knights double-teamed the junior forward, he kicked it back to to guards Keath Hampton and Derrick Hines, who combined for 41 points.
``Cave Spring is small,'' Stokes said. ``I told the guards to get the ball low [to me]. If they double-teamed me, I'd dish it back outside. Tonight's the first time we've really gone to that.''
The Knights also played one good half of defense. In the opening half, Cave Spring was 7-of-35 from the field. Matt Matheny, who shared team scoring honors with Dusty Beekman at 15, managed only one field goal. In the second half, a Matheny 3-pointer gave him 1,000 points for his career.
``We were very tight,'' said Chris Carr, Cave Spring's coach. ``The milestone caused Matt to be really tight. We have to have a good night from Matt Matheny to beat William Fleming.''
``I was surprised at the half,'' said Burrall Paye, Fleming's coach. ``I told our guys we had to go out and play in the second half because they'd be shooting 3-pointers to try and come back. We didn't want them to get hot and get their crowd into the game.''
Beekman and his teammates went right to work. Beekman tossed in a jumper, and James Irvin hit Cave Spring's first 3-pointer of the second half to start the rally.
``Coach Carr said we should play more up-tempo in the second half,'' Beekman said. ``Play to our talent. We're a 3-point shooting team. I don't think we were too psyched the first half. It's just our shots weren't falling.''
While pressure was a problem for Cave Spring, it wasn't a factor for the Colonels.
Fleming connected on 29-of-55 field-goal attempts. Despite the Knights' second-half comeback, Fleming never lost its touch. The Colonels connected on 16-of-23 shots in the last two quarters and made only six turnovers.
Perhaps the last turning point came after a 3-point shot by Beekman made it 66-60 with 4 minutes, 13 seconds left.
After a Fleming timeout, Hampton zipped in a 3-pointer and, following a Knights miss, Hines fed Stokes for a stuff to make it 71-60 with 2:55 left.
``Down the stretch, they got hot,'' Hines said. ``Coach Paye told us playing in their gym, we'd have to expect anything they'd throw at us and keep our composure.''
Fleming did that. If Matheny was cold in the first half, it was because Quincy Freeman and sophomore Charles Burnette were doing a good job defending him. Hines, usually an assist leader, had one in the first 16 minutes. However, he hit 5-of-7 field-goal attempts, including several from the top of the circle. In the third quarter, Hines got four assists, leaving most of the scoring duties to his teammates.
The loss gives Fleming an advantage in the district race as the next game between the two teams picked to battle for the RVD title is on the Colonels' floor.
``You can't spot William Fleming 17 points,'' Carr said. ``It's next to impossible to beat them with that. But we can play with them. We outplayed them the second half. We welcome the chance to play them again.''
by CNB