ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The most common view the Albemarle boys' basketball players had of their William Fleming opponents Tuesday night was the back of a head, the rear side of a flapping jersey, the bottom of a shoe.
The Colonels spent a lot of time leaving their guests panting as they ran break after break for easy points. With an 82-58 victory, Fleming hot-footed right into a Northwest Region semifinal Thursday against George Washington-Danville, a 101-81 victor over Patrick Henry. The Colonels lost both games with the Eagles during the regular season.
Albemarle (19-6) saw a once-promising campaign end painfully with losses in three of its last four games.
``GW-Danville played real well Saturday night when they beat us for the [Western] District championship,'' said Greg Maynard, the Patriots' coach. ``Other than that, this was the best a team played against us all year.''
Eleven Colonels scored as the Roanoke Valley District champions continued their quest to advance to the Group AAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year. At times, the Fleming offense looked as though it were rehearsing for an instructional video.
``When our defense is working the way it should be, then it's going to be hard for the other team to score and easy for us,'' Fleming's Charles Burnette said.
Albemarle hasn't been used to this sort of thing.
``We're averaging giving up a little over 50 points per game,'' Maynard said. ``When Fleming had 26 after the first quarter, I knew we were in trouble.''
Actually, the Patriots were in trouble before that point. Fleming made seven of its first eight shots and none of them was particularly difficult.
``Every day in practice, Coach [Roland Lovelace] makes us keep running our offense over and over again until we get an open shot,'' said Fleming's Brad Dunleavy.
Most of the time, the Colonels (18-5) didn't have to show much patience to get what they wanted. The turnovers came first, then the easy baskets. And they kept coming.
Burnette scored 17 points, most of them when he was out in front on the fast break.
``He's one of the fastest players we have,'' Lovelace said. ``He's a track man. He can cover a whole lot of floor in a little bit of time.''
Dunleavy chipped in 15 points, three of them coming on one of Fleming's six 3-pointers. Richard Wilson added three more 3-pointers and 11 points. Four more players scored six to eight points each.
``They have a deep team and they keep coming,'' Maynard said.
Guard Jemel Ross scored 14 points and Lionel Jackson added 11 when he wasn't sitting out most of the latter stages of the game with foul trouble.
``That hurt us, having Lionel on the bench,'' Maynard said. ``We 're not nearly as deep as Fleming is inside.'' NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF. William Fleming's Brad Dunleavyby CNBtries to fake Albemarle defenders Kevin White (45) and Kurt Hunter
(13) off their feet. color.