Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501240057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The person making the Crestar Classic basketball pairings has done William Fleming no favors.
``One of the great things about the Crestar is that we always get matched up with the top team,'' said Burrall Paye, the Colonels' coach.
That held true Saturday as Woodrow Wilson of Beckley, W.Va., roared past the Colonels 85-74 in the last of four boys' basketball games at the Salem Civic Center.
The Fleming-Wilson game pitted the top two point guards - Derrick Hines of Fleming and Gene Nabors of Wilson - in the Classic against one another. Both came billed as super guards. They didn't disappoint.
Nabors scored 32 points to top all scorers in the eight-team Crestar Classic. He also had four assists and two steals.
Hines kept his team in the game for most of the first half while trying to guard Nabors. Hines finished with 23 points, eight assists and two steals.
``Derrick did a great job, and then he got tired,'' Paye said. ``He played Nabors, but Nabors didn't play Derrick.''.
``[Nabors] shot well,'' Hines said, ``but no doubt he played on a great `help' team. They played together all the way through the game. I think whenever I scored, he took it personally and tried to retaliate. I think we both played well.''That's what made the game so enjoyable. A couple of times, the two guards took over and seemed intent on answering whenever the other team scored.
At times, it appeared Hines and Nabors were playing their own game.
``Gene is such a team player, and sometimes he gives the ball up so much,'' said David Barksdale, Wilson's coach. ``He doesn't want to be thought of as selfish, but we need Gene to play like he did tonight and take over.''
Nabors said he always tries to play team ball.
``I wanted to make things happen,'' he said. ``Every time [Hines] made a basket, I had to make the right play.''
One of the Nabors' big plays was an NBA-range 3-point shot he hit at the end of the first quarter.
``Sometimes I feel it, and if I do, I'll take it. But [one this far] isn't usual,'' said Nabors, who lists Virginia Tech and West Virginia as two of the schools he might choose to further his basketball career.
The Flying Eagles (11-1) never trailed as Donnie Adkins opened with a 3-pointer. Wilson zoomed ahead by 13 points and led 39-32 at halftime. Hines' 15 points kept the Colonels (10-2) within striking distance.
``You can't play a zone; they shoot 3s so well,'' Paye said. ``We tried a zone, and they pumped us out of it. We couldn't keep them off the boards in a zone.''
Hines' help came from Keath Hampton, who scored 21 points, including five 3-point goals. Wilson shut off Fleming's inside game was James Stokes had only 11 points.
``To beat a team of their caliber is good for us,'' Barksdale said. ``We had heard so much about them, and they lived up to what we had heard with a great point guard and a great shooter.''.
Nabors' help came from forward Kelvin Pannell, who had 27 points and eight rebounds. The teams each had 39 rebounds.
The Flying Eagles, who have won three West Virginia state basketball championships in the 1990s and lost last year after going unbeaten into the state tournament, hit 34 of 61 field-goal attempts. The Colonels were 31-of-71 from the field.
by CNB