ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUMSTAFF WRITER
Patrick Henry's Boo Battle is no shrinking sophomore.
After watching his teammates get stuffed for much of the game by William Fleming's Sterling Tate, the PH forward returned the favor, sealing the Patriots' comeback bid Thursday in their 71-63 Roanoke Valley District victory.
Battle's play came as Tate, who had blocked five shots and scored 20 points, was trying to make a basket that would have whittled the Patriots' lead to three points with just over 30 seconds left.
Battle blocked the shot, and in the scramble for the ball, Tate fouled out. Malik Shareef missed a free throw for PH, but Battle followed for a tip-in, drew a foul and sank the free throw to finish the scoring.
The Patriots (12-8 overall, 6-2 RVD) can tie for the league title. For that to happen, William Fleming (13-6, 6-1) must lose tonight at Cave Spring. The Knights can create a three-way tie by beating the Colonels tonight and Pulaski County on Saturday.
``Sterling and I are buddies and I wanted to do that [block] real bad,'' said Battle, who had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. ``I wanted this game real bad and the second half is about as well as I've played.''
Battle scored seven points and had four rebounds in the final quarter. Ronnie Kasey added nine points and Shareef had five rebounds as the Patriots outscored Fleming 20-8.
For a while, it appeared the Colonels would win easily. Fleming went to Tate and James Stokes inside repeatedly to go ahead by 16 points. Stokes, who finished with 20 points, even hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. Together the two made 14 of 23 shots from the field.
``Nah, I wasn't worried,'' said Battle. ``Kasey told me [we] were going to get this one.''
Patrick Henry coach Woody Deans wasn't so sure.
``They shot the ball so well and we weren't getting into our offense,'' he said. ``Often when a team gets big leads early, it's deceiving. At the half, we relaxed and I just told them to do what they needed to do.''
Deans also went to a 2-3 zone that stopped Fleming late in the first half. Brooks Berry started the PH comeback with a pair of long 3-point shots in the third quarter and finished with 19 points.
``I just knew we had to keep our composure,'' said Berry. ``If we did, we'd come back and beat them.''
Fleming, using six players, ran into fatigue and foul problems. Stokes fouled out with 1:55 left and Kasey hit two free throws to put PH ahead 66-63.
``We just stopped doing what we did the first half,'' said Fleming coach Marshall Ashford. ``Possibly, our big kids got tired, but I felt we had to have them in there. This was their gym and they had their home crowd behind them.''
Stokes, who led Fleming with nine rebounds, said, ``This will make us play harder [at Cave Spring]. Their zone collapsed on us and we just couldn't hit the outside shots.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Patrick Henry's Brian Jackson drawsby CNBWilliam Fleming defender Brad Dunleavy before making a no-look pass
to Colby Leftwich for a bucket Thursday night at PH's gym.