Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The most threatened contest is the feature game of Saturday's Crestar Basketball Classic at the Salem Civic Center.
William Fleming is scheduled to face Fairdale High of Louisville, Ky., which probably will be ranked No. 1 in the Bluegrass State when polls are released this week.
Fairdale is 16-1 and was ranked second last week. Coach Lloyd Gardner expects his team to be top-rated when and if it arrives in the Roanoke Valley late Friday to play Fleming in the third game of the Crestar Classic, starting around 8 p.m. Saturday.
"If the governor opens the highways and the principal lets me go, we'll be there," Gardner said.
As bad as the weather and road conditions are in this area, Fairdale, located in a Louisville suburb, is buried under 16 inches of snow with sub-zero temperatures.
"The interstate highways are closed right now, and we're not supposed to play when we don't have school," Gardner said. "I think the principal will let me come, and we'll be there if they open the roads. So far, though, they haven't been able to plow them."
That's just part of the Timesland schedule that has been threatened or wiped out by this winter's weather.
Ernie Bradd, head of the Western Virginia Basketball Officials' Association that handles approximately 80 percent of the high school games in the area, said that through Wednesday 84 boys' games and seven girls' games have been postponed since Dec. 1.
"So far, 62 of those games have not been rescheduled and have yet to be played," said Bradd.
At one time, it appeared that some non-district games would not be rescheduled. Bradd said Pulaski County talked about not playing either scheduled game against Blacksburg but had since relented and will try to make up the contests.
No school has bounced a basketball in a game in Timesland since last Saturday night. Most haven't even practiced.
William Byrd coach Paul Barnard got his team together Wednesday for a practice after postponing a game against Christiansburg. That game will be made up Saturday unless Friday's Byrd-Northside game has to be delayed a day.
"We played on Friday and went to practice on Saturday," said Barnard. "But we just watched tapes and did nothing with a ball.
"We've had snow and have been able to get players out, but this ice is a different matter."
Probably the most affected team in Timesland has been Highland. The Rams have played only four games, which is one less than Craig County.
What threatens games later this week are the parking lots at the schools, which are still covered with ice.
Even the Salem Civic Center, normally one of the fastest to clear its lot, is listed as a probable for this weekend's schedule that starts out with a key William Fleming-Cave Spring boys' and girls' Roanoke Valley District doubleheader Friday and then has the Crestar Classic on Saturday.
"We should be in a situation to use abrasives to make the parking lot OK for Friday and, if temperatures rise as they're supposed to, clear the lot by Saturday," said civic center director Carey Harveycutter. "But if the temperatures don't rise or we get more snow, it could be difficult."
The Crestar tripleheader can be a good one if it comes off as planned. Salem, the top-ranked team and only unbeaten squad left in Timesland, takes on Dobynns-Bennett of Kingsport, Tenn., at 5 p.m. in the first game. The Kingsport team, though down this year, traditionally has been one of Tennessee's toughest Triple A squads.
Host Patrick Henry plays Princeton, W.Va., at 6:30, then Fleming tests Fairdale.
The Fairdale team is led by 6-foot-2 Rashawn Moris, a guard who has scored 1,490 points in his career, and 5-10 Tony Wales, a forward with 1,057 career points.
The Kentucky team plays eight to 10 players, and its bench has outscored opponents' reserves 27.3 to 8.2. Fairdale's only loss was at a tournament in Florida. It has beaten five teams in Kentucky's top 20, including last week's No. 1, and two squads ranked among the top five in Florida.
by CNB