Only four nights prior, Patrick Henry had taken the Western Valley District’s bull by the horns, downing GW Danville for sole possession of first place.
William Fleming marched into the Patriot gym and emphatically reopened the corral door, as the Colonels knocked off PH 58-57 before an energized standing-room-only crowd. Fleming’s win thus provides a three-way district tie among those teams at the halfway point, and the Colonels may have a slight edge as PH, Danville and Franklin County must all visit the Colonel gym in the second half.
“This was big,” a happy Fleming head coach Mickey Hardy noted in the loud Fleming locker room. “We had two good days of practice. Tonight, we played hard and put ourselves in position to win.”
“This will be a big confidence booster,” Hardy added. “We got blown out by Danville. Now, it’s all even among the three teams.”
Fleming had come out smoking and PH was equally out of rhythm in the first half, as the Colonels went to the break up 37-24. Few in the packed house doubted a Patrick Henry run would be forthcoming.
“We got off terribly in the first half,” PH head coach Jack Esworthy said. “We did stuff tonight we usually don’t do. They got a lot of 3-on-1 breaks.”
“That half put us on our heels.” Esworthy added. “When you play a good team, you gotta play four quarters.”
PH responded with a slow, but sure, comeback. They outscored the Colonels 16-10 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 47-40, although the Patriots had gotten to three before FLeming closed the frame with a 4-0 run.
The game stayed tight most of the fourth quarter with the Fleming lead staying between 2 and 5 points most of the way. Finally, PH took the lead on Tyler Pollard’s three-point play with :25 left, setting up a final Colonel play.
Inbounding after a timeout with nineteen seconds, Fleming got the ball at the top of the key to sophomore Warren Craft. Craft made a move, hesitated, then slipped by the PH defender. His short layup kissed off the glass cleanly into the basket.
PH had ten seconds left, but a final halfcourt shot by Marcus Banks, caromed dangerously close off the rim as the Colonel fans flooded the court.
“I wanted the ball for the last shot,” Craft said. “When I got under the defender on my move to the basket, it was great. When the ball left my hand I knew it was in.”
Craft led the Fleming scoring attack with 17 points, while Shalik Law added 14 points for the Colonels.
PH had a trio of double-digit scorers,led by Christian Kirchman’s 16, Bank’s 14 and Austin Donithan’s 10.
by Bill Turner