Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503200037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
Certainly, the effort was there as the Fighting Blues' season ended with a 46-43 loss Thursday night that was typical of the season.
William Monroe (26-2) heads to the championship game where it will try and defend its title at 1 p.m. today against Glenvar, which rallied to beat Nandua 60-56 in the other semifinal.
Parry McCluer (21-8), which lost 51-43 to the Dragons in last year's championship game, came into the season with no starters returning. The Blues would be led by Mike McElroy, a sixth man last year, who wound up scoring 529 points this winter.
``I thought we'd get back. I had total confidence we'd make it this far,'' said McElroy, who scored 12 of his 15 points Thursday in the first half to give Parry McCluer a 24-15 lead at intermission.
Call it youthful exuberance, but it wasn't that easy. Indeed, the Blues started the season fast, slumped midway through the schedule and finished fourth in the Pioneer District regular-season race.
``The kids came a long way and stuck together through a lot of tough times,'' said Fox. Some of that was the unexpected loss because of illness to key players.
``Then we had a lot of flu at inopportune times this year. More so than other seasons. Then Chip [Coleman, the point guard] broke his finger at Grayson County.''
Despite this, the Blues played their best basketball down the stretch and had a shot at beating William Monroe.
``Starting with our [Region C] game at Grayson County, everything came together. We had a great run,'' said Fox.
The Blues destroyed Grayson County 70-48 in Independence, beat Glenvar in the Region C finals to gain revenge for a loss in the Pioneer District title game, and then rallied to stop Council 70-69 on a late shot in the first round of the state tournament.
Thursday, the Blues had another shot at a last-second comeback. Down 45-40, Brandon Garrett pumped in a 3-point shot to whittle the deficit to two points with nine seconds left.
Forced to foul after a timeout, the Blues had to take William Monroe star Percy White. The senior forward, who had a game-high 23 points, made one free throw.
Parry McCluer hustled to midcourt and got a timeout with 2.6 seconds left. The ball went to the corner on the throw in and David Coleman missed a 3-point attempt from there to tie and send the game to overtime.
``Our first option was McElroy coming off the pick. They had taken him and some others away, but I had confidence in David,'' said Fox.
This game might have turned at halftime when William Monroe coach Randy Michie figured a way to free White, who had but nine points while his team had managed only 15.
``Parry McCluer had a game plan to stop Percy, so they sagged toward the middle and let the outer people shoot,'' Michie said. ``We were satisfied to take the jump shots. In the second half, we put Percy out high instead of low. That opened up the baseline and we started to penetrate with the basketball.''
Fox will be out of starters again next year, but he won't have three players 6-foot-5 or bigger returning. So will next year's rebuilding be a repeat of this season's performance?
``We'll be smaller and we'll use a different type of strategy,'' said Fox with a smile. ``In fact we'll do a lot of things differently.''
He just hopes the results are similar to the past two seasons, which have proven to be a big time for Parry McCluer basketball.
NOTE: Please see microfilom for scores.
by CNB