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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994                   TAG: 9403130188
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: E-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

COLONELS DUG HOLE, COULDN'T CLIMB OUT

And when Fleming fell short in the Group AAA championship game Saturday night, losing to big and talented Meadowbrook 70-65, Hines didn't shrink from his share of the blame.

"I've got to go back to the gym and go back to work, both physically and mentally," he said. "I need to improve on the things I didn't do well tonight and try to make myself a better player."

Hines already is one of the best point guards around, and his team is the state runner-up, no easy feat in the brutally competitive level at which the Colonels play.

Hines was hard on himself: "I needed to get the ball to people at the right times in better spots. If I had, we would have won the state championship."

Under any circumstances, the 5-foot-8 junior's attainments were noteworthy - 17 points to lead the team, six assists, a steal and only two turnovers while never leaving the floor.

Hines, lightning quick on defense, led a couple of comebacks, one from 10 points down and another from a deficit of 13 points late in the third quarter when the Colonels looked as dead as the balanced budget amendment.

"It's always hard to come back once you get down," said Reggie Reynolds, one of two senior starters for Fleming. "We were constantly trying to come back, and that took a lot out of us. Finally, at the end, we were in a hole that we couldn't get out of."

The Fleming starters, an iron-five all year, did it all against the Monarchs. The contribution from the bench was two fouls. All five starters scored in double figures, and four had from five to 11 rebounds as the Colonels controlled the boards 37-32. That in itself was an accomplishment.

"They were bigger and stronger than us inside, but that didn't really make any difference," said Fleming's Keith Hampton, who had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists.

It was Hampton who had a chance to tie the score with fewer than 10 seconds left when he launched a 3-point attempt from the top of the key. Fleming trailed 68-65 after William Fitzgerald had ripped away the rebound, his 11th, as Chandler Evans missed a bonus free throw with 15.4 seconds left.

"I was behind the line," Hampton said. "I didn't see anybody and I didn't really know how much time was left."

Was it a good shot?

"Not at all," he said. "I didn't get myself together before I took the shot."

Evans snagged the rebound and fed guard Royal Jones, who was fouled by James Stokes with 3.5 seconds left. One free throw would have sealed it, but Jones hit both.