ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on December 21, 1995. Boo Battle's team was
incorrectly identified in a caption in Wednesday's editions. Battle
plays boys' basketball for the Patrick Henry Patriots.
A by-the-book basketball game was played by neither William Fleming nor Patrick Henry Tuesday night.
PH had a fainting spell before it ever scored its first point. Fleming later went through an uncomfortable sequence in which it had trouble deciphering the Patriots' trapping defense.
Both teams eventually pulled themselves together. Fleming then emerged by exploiting its biggest advantage, its inside game, on the way to a 66-50 Roanoke Valley District victory at the Salem Civic Center.
The Colonels led 44-23 on a soaring tap by mercury-footed center James Stokes with 4:43 in the third period before Patrick Henry fought back with a 17-2 charge fueled by six Colonels turnovers. The score was 46-40 when the Patriots' Brooks Berry swished a 3-pointer with 6:34 left in the game.
``When we got down that far, the only thing we could do was trap and go man-to-man as hard as we could,'' Patriots coach Woody Deans said. ``No big strategy there, just get out and bust it.''
Six was as close as PH got, though. The Colonels (4-2 overall, 1-0 in the district) went back to basics and fed the ball inside to Stokes and Charles Burnette for the last five minutes of the game. Stokes closed with eight of his 26 points during that span and Burnette went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and slashed in for a layup for six of his 18 in the last 4:20.
``PH] started that trap on the first pass and we had some trouble with it,'' Fleming coach Burrall Paye said. ``We're awfully young at the guards - Brad Dunleavy, Richard Wilson, and R.J. Reynolds were all on the JV last year - but they didn't lose their composure.''
Stokes and Burnette may have been all it took to soothe any frayed Fleming nerves. It was clear from the outset that the Patriots (4-3, 0-1) didn't know what to do with them.
``We couldn't stop them from going inside to Stokes,'' Deans said. ``And Burnette played very well against us.''
Part of Stokes' game was to get fouled down low and head for the line. There, he made all eight of his shots.
``I try to take all the free throws I can in practice,'' he said. ``Probably 100 a day. Maybe next week, I'll bump it up to 200. Can't be missing those free throws.''
Burnette made four of six at the free-throw line and the Colonels finished 14-for-18 to outscore the Patriots by seven points at the stripe.
PH got a lot of punch off the bench from sophomore Boo Battle, who had a team-high 14 points. Berry had two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.
The Patriots' problems started early. Fleming led 12-0 and PH didn't have its first field goal until Colby Leftwich finished a turnover-sparked fast break with 2:58 left in the opening quarter.
``We were not ready to play,'' Deans said. ``We had a lackluster practice [Monday] and we started the game just the way we practiced.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Malik Shareef (32) ofby CNBPatrick Henry blocks a shot by James Stokes of William Fleming in
the third quarter. Boo Battle (34) of the Colonels also defends on
the play. Fleming won 66-50. color. 2. Brad Dunleavy (left) of
William Fleming battles Ronnie Kasey of Patrick Henry for possession
of the basketball.