Last month’s cross-city basketball matchup between William Fleming and Patrick Henry saw the Colonels score the first 18 points of the game, then lose.
Wednesday night at the Patrick Henry gym, Fleming didn’t let the quarry get out of the bag.
Dominating at both ends of the court, the Colonels jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back as Fleming ran away with the 67-39 win.
“We played pretty well tonight,” Fleming head coach Mickey Hardy said outside the Colonel locker room. “We reminded them of the big lead last time, but they were focused and played some extremely good defense. We stressed playing four quarters.”
Patrick Henry scored the first basket of the game, but it would end up being the only Patriot lead of the night. Fleming made a statement that it was going to take it to the paint, and the Colonels took advantage of close-in scores and second chance shots off rebounds. Fleming led 16-5 after the first eight minutes.
Fleming opened the second quarter with a 8-1 run, and the 24-6 advantage led Patriot head coach Jack Esworthy to use his third time out, seeing things getting away in a hurry. Fleming went to the halftime break up 30-10. By that time PH had spent four of its five allowed timeouts, with Esworthy looking for any combination that would slow down the Colonels.
Nothing was successful.
Although the Patriots scored the first four points to open the second half, Fleming followed with a 12-0 run fueled by a Warren Craft free throw, two from the charity stripe by Steven Jones off a PH technical foul on Esworthy, a pair of long-range Fleming 3-pointers and a driving score and harm from Craft that boosted the Colonel lead to a commanding 42-14 spread. PH closed the third on 9-3 run to head to the final 8 minutes with Fleming ahead 45-23.
With Fleming in the double bonus, the fourth quarter became a parade to the free throw for the Colonels. Fleming’s lead rose to 63-29 late in the game before the final 28-point margin was settled.
“We played good defense and got the ball to the open man,” Fleming junior guard Tyrell Adams said afterward. “We remembered the last game. Tonight we played as a team.”
“It was simply ‘don’t let up’,” senior Warren Craft pointed out inside the Colonel locker room. “We kept being aggressive and everyone was sharing the ball. That was key.”
Craft led the Fleming offense with a game-high 21 points. Jones added 16, while Adams poured in 13 points for the Colonels.
Patrick Henry was paced by senior Marcus Terry’s 11 hard-earned points.
– Bill Turner