ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603040121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DANVILLE
SOURCE: BUDDY WRIGHT SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
William Fleming threw a scare into top-ranked George Washington-Danville on Saturday before bowing to the Nathan Poole-led Eagles 64-54 in the Northwest Region championship game.
The Colonels (18-7) must now travel to play the Northern Region champion J.E.B. Stuart - a 72-50 winner over Wakefield - at a neutral site in that region on March 9. GW (25-0) will play Wakefield at Heritage High School in Lynchburg.
Poole, GW's third-leading scorer at 14 points per game, scored 12 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter. Poole was 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line in the final period.
``He's a senior,'' William Fleming coach Marshall Ashford said of Poole. ``That's what he's supposed to do. They want it for Coach [Harry] Johnson, and they're doing what they are supposed to do. They made a lot of big shots."
GW forced 15 turnovers in the first 12 minutes but couldn't pull away because of poor shooting from the perimeter against Fleming's 1-3-1 zone.
Fleming, trailing 20-10 with 3:35 left in the first half, outscored GW 11-2 during the remainder of the second quarter and trailed 22-21 at halftime.
Fleming remained hot to start the second half, and a dunk at the end of a fastbreak by Charles Burnette put the Colonels up 29-26 with 5:39 left in the third quarter.
However, GW answered with three straight jumpers - two by Poole - to retake the lead. Fleming, with leading scorer James Stokes on the bench with four fouls, fought back to tie it at 33 when Richard Wilson buried a pullup jumper in transition.
DeMarcus Morrison and Charles Stephens, the latter in place of Tyrone Robertson who had fouled out, came off the bench to spark GW to a 49-41 lead with 5:32 to play. Fleming cut the gap to 53-50 on a 3-pointer Brad Dunleavy, but did not get any closer as Poole took over in GW's delay offense.
``We needed somebody to step up and Nathan took charge,'' said Johnson, who is retiring at the end of the season.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB