ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997 TAG: 9702280086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
Those choking noises coming from the William Fleming gym Thursday night were the sounds of George Washington-Danville's basketball team suffocating.
It wasn't from the heat generated by a full house or the sultry weather hanging over Roanoke. It was from the Colonels' defense that put a stranglehold on the defending Group AAA state champions and sent the Eagles flying out of the Northwest Region tournament 75-60. It also wiped away two regular-season losses to the Eagles.
The game was much closer and more exciting than the final score as Fleming (19-5) advanced to the state tournament for the fourth time in five years. The Colonels will play for the Northwest Region title and a first-round state game in the Roanoke area when they travel to Potomac, which beat Woodbridge 49-46, for a Saturday game.
The telling statistic in the dethroning of a state champion came on the backboards, where Fleming held a whopping 55-34 margin. Sophomore Michael Fleshman had 10 rebounds followed closely by Charles Burnette and guard Brad Dunleavy with nine each, and reserve forward Jaron Walker with eight.
``Our Fleming defense is designed so that we box everyone out,'' said Burnette. ``It was the defense that won it for us.''
Despite the board work of the Colonels, the Eagles (21-4) trailed just 56-55 with 6:26 left in a game that had ebbed back and forth. That's when Fleshman got a layup to start a 5-1 run as the Colonels began pulling away.
Then Brad Dunleavy took over offensively, scoring nine of his game-high 21 points in the final quarter. The 6-foot-3 guard was taking G.W.-Danville defenders to the basket, which was quite a feat considering the Eagles blocked nine Colonels shots.
``Everyone thinks Mondre [Burnette] is our scorer. The coaches wanted me to step it up, take it to the basket,'' said Dunleavy. ``G.W. has never seen me drive to the basket.
``Tonight, I wasn't just a jump shooter. My coaches and teammates had confidence in me.''
Burnette did his thing with 17 points. His biggest shot might have come when his short jumper with 1:26 left made it 65-60. Just a few seconds earlier, senior R.J. Reynolds missed the same shot, bringing groans from the crowd.
``I just thought about getting back on defense and playing hard. Our coaches have stressed the whole time about defense,'' said Reynolds, who led a bench that outscored G.W. 17-9 in another telling statistic.
``I thought our guys played pretty good defense. We've stressed that a lot, but we also made some pretty big shots,'' said first-year Fleming coach Roland Lovelace.
``The seniors have done a super job the whole year. Especially considering we've had three different coaches in less than a year's time,'' said Lovelace, who was the girls' coach last year when Burrall Paye retired and gave way in midseason to Marshall Ashford, who once again is an assistant.
The Eagles made only 21 of 58 shots, though both teams were tight in their shooting. Fleming made 29-of-72.
``They must have wanted it worse than we did. They did a good job executing their offense, getting the shots they wanted. I can't say enough about how well Coach Lovelace had his team ready to play,'' said G.W. coach Chris Carter, who was an assistant a year ago when the Eagles took the Group AAA title.
``They got a little confident and kept coming at us like a bunch of mad dogs. When we played them here before, they beat us on the boards. But we feel with the shooting that we have, we can win most games.'' NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF. William Hankins (left) of Williamby CNBFleming and Derrick Gunn of GW-Danville scramble for a loose ball
during the Colonels' win. color.