THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603100184
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Indian River played a waiting game against Douglas Freeman Friday night.
The Braves waited for Freeman's 6-9 Colin Ducharme to get in foul trouble; waited for their shots to fall; waited for the tempo to turn their way.
That fortuitous conjuction of events finally occurred late in the third quarter, and the resulting 15-0 run ushered in a 55-37 victory before a crowd of 5,000 at the Arthur Ashe Center.
The victory sends the Braves to the Group AAA final four for the second straight year.
Indian River (24-4) will meet undefeated George Washington of Danville Friday night at 9 at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
``We had to let it come to us,'' said Indian River's Jason Capel, who led the Braves with 18 points and 11 rebounds - 13 of those points and nine rebounds in the second half. ``It was just a matter of time before we got into our running game.''
The Braves led by two when Ducharme picked up his third and fourth fouls less than a minute into the third quarter. Ducharme, heading to the University of Virginia in the fall, had 12 points and four rebounds at that point.
``That was really big,'' Capel said.
The Braves didn't capitalize at first. The Rebels (24-2) ran off six straight points, capped by Michael Jones' three-point play, to take their only lead of the game at 29-28 with 2:19 left in the fourth quarter.
Indian River responded like it had been slapped in the face.
Terry Rouse drove the left baseline and fed Capel for a layup to put the Braves back in front 30-29. A Freeman turnover led to another basket by Capel, who was fouled.
His free throw hiked the advantage to four and after two missed shots by Freeman and a turnover by Indian River James Boyd closed out the quarter with a dunk off a fastbreak to give the Braves their biggest lead to that point at 35-29.
Ducharme returned for the fourth quarter, but the rout was in motion. Capel finished another fastbreak with a stickback of Boyd's miss; Capel scored inside; Capel fed David Selby for a fastbreak dunk; and, after a Freeman timeout, Selby dunked again on a pass from Rouse.
That made it 43-29 with 4:04 to play and the Braves were on their way.
``In the fourth quarter we tried to challenge their shots, box out and then run the break,'' Indian River coach Freddie Spellman said.
Freeman just tried to score.
Ducharme's foul trouble crippled the Rebels' offense. They shot only 25.9 percent for the game, 13.3 in the second half.
Ducharme was the only Freeman player in double figures with 19. He was 8 of 17 from the field - the rest of the team 6 of 37.
``We just couldn't get our shots to fall,'' Freeman coach Larry Parpart said. ``We thought we were going to Lynchburg.''
It was almost an even bet at halftime. Indian River led by only 24-22 as the Rebels collapsed on Capel and limited him to only three shots.
``It was really frustrating,'' Capel said. ``Luckily our guards were aggressive and cut to the basket.''
Selby scored nine of his 17 points in the first half. Rouse finished with 10 and Boyd 8.
INDIAN RIVER: Boyd 8, Rouse 10, Selby 17, Capel 18, Seward 2, Wilson 0, Basnight 0, Nichols 0, Stukes 0, Holley 0, McDaniels 0. Totals 19 15-25 55.
DOUGLAS FREEMAN: Holley 6, Coughter 5, Marcus 0, Jones 6, Ducharme 19, Pruden 0, Johnson 0, Perlman 0, Hamilton 1, Totals 14 8-12 37.
Indian River 15 9 11 20 - 55
Douglas Freeman 15 7 7 8 - 37
3-point goals: Rouse, Selby. Total fouls: Indian River 11, Douglas Freeman 17. Fouled out: Holley. Technical fouls: None. by CNB