FLEMING HANDLES STALL WOODBRIDGE TACTIC FAILS IN REGIONAL TITLE GAME

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090320
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
FLEMING HANDLES STALL WOODBRIDGE TACTIC FAILS IN REGIONAL TITLE GAME<
Playing stall against the master of delay can often prove fatal.
Woodbridge boys' basketball coach Will Robinson chose that strategy Monday and the tactic led directly to a William Fleming victory in the Northwestern Region championship game.
The host Colonels tripped the Vikings 41-32 and the game turned on Woodbridge's delay game in the second quarter and what followed at the start of the second half.
With the victory, Fleming gets a better seeding in the Group AAA state tournament. The Colonels (21-5) take on Hayfield at Robinson High in Fairfax on Saturday; Woodbridge (24-2) must play South Lakes and 6-foot-10 Duke recruit Joey Beard on Friday.
William Fleming coach Burrall Paye often has used the delay offense against strong teams. When Robinson put the freeze on with five minutes left in the second quarter, the Colonels led 14-13.
The Vikings held and Fleming watched. Woodbridge's Spencer Mallard slipped in for a shot in front of the basket with 0.6 left on the clock to give his team a 15-14 lead.
The Vikings had possession to start the second half.
"We knew that, so we figured if we could score and take the lead, we could come out the second half and build on it," Robinson said. "We also had [Marcus] Diggs with two personals. We didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize him getting a third. If they had played man-to-man, we would have tried to score, but they stayed in the zone."
It didn't work for Woodbridge. The Vikings missed their first six shots in the second half and Fleming scored four quick baskets with David Hutchinson getting two of them for a 21-14 lead. After that, Woodbridge never got closer than four points.
While the Woodbridge stall protected Diggs, it did the same for Fleming point guard Derrick Hines, who also had two personals.
"When they went to the stall, I asked my assistant coaches, `Do you think I should go down and kiss him [Robinson]?' " Paye said. "I couldn't believe it. They were giving me my point guard for the entire second half."
"I kind of wasn't in focus defensively the first half," Hines said. "Coach told us we relaxed when they went to the stall, a couple of people fell out of position and they got that layup before the half."
Still the game wasn't over. Fleming had to hit free throws, something they failed to do earlier when they blew a lead and lost to Rice of Manhattan, N.Y., which was ranked 20th in the nation then.
Phillip Lacey responded this time. He hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:32 to keep Woodbridge from closing the gap.
"After that Rice game, we started concentrating on our free throws. Perhaps they singled me out [to foul] because I hadn't shot the ball that well tonight," Lacey said.
Though the Vikings were outrebounded 37-31, Diggs and Damion Keyes each got 11 off the boards and got several second shots for Woodbridge.
"We wanted a game in the 40s, and we got it just where we wanted," Robinson said. "But we missed [easy shots] early, missed them in the middle and missed them late."
The Colonels hit 16-of-38 from the field. Woodbridge made only 14-of-52. The Colonels got four blocks, including two from guard Carlos Rhodes, who normally is Fleming's scoring leader but was held to six points.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB