varsity.roanoke.com

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

William Fleming's Jamelle Hagins (right) and Eric Thomas (left) react after the Colonels fell victim to a furious second-half comeback by King's Fork on Friday.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

William Fleming's Jamelle Hagins (middle) looks for help as he's surrounded by four King's Fork players during Friday's Group AAA championship game.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

The Roanoke TImes William Fleming's Troy Daniels (right) drives on King's Fork's Derek Wright on Friday night at VCU's Siegel Center.

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RICHMOND -- William Fleming stuck a fork in its opponent Friday night.

The opponent was not done.

Trailing by 19 points in the second half, King's Fork ripped the VHSL Group AAA championship away from William Fleming's grasp with a 49-47 victory at VCU's Siegel Center.

Fleming (25-5) appeared poised to bring the elusive Group AAA trophy back to Roanoke to join the Group AA hardware the Colonels won on the same floor in 2007 when they staged a second-half comeback of their own to defeat Brunswick.

"It's two halves to a basketball game," Fleming coach Mickey Hardy said. "We played an outstanding first half. They played an outstanding second half. It was kind of a role reversal of 2007. We played a bad first half and an outstanding second half.

"If you play this game long enough, if you coach it long enough, these are some of the things that are going to happen to you."

Fleming held the Bulldogs to three field goals in the first half and led 28-9 early in the third quarter before the team from Suffolk got rolling behind an aggressive fullcourt press and perimeter shooting that had been absent all night.

King's Fork (31-1) closed the deficit to 33-25 by the end of the third quarter and finally took the lead at 37-36 on a breakaway layup by Alvin Daughtrey with 4:29 to play.

Fleming immediately went back up 38-37 on two free throws by Troy Daniels with 4:15 remaining, but the Colonels would not see the lead again.

Derek Wright's 3-pointer from the left baseline put King's Fork up 41-38 and would serve as a Friday the 13th omen.

Daniels drilled a deep 3-pointer from the left corner to tie the score at 43, but the Bulldogs ran more than a minute off the clock before calling a timeout. King's Fork ran a play for Wright, who popped out behind a screen at the top of the key and swished another 3-pointer for a 46-43 lead with 41.4 seconds left.

Fleming had two chances to tie, but guard Stephon Anderson missed a 3-pointer with 19.6 seconds left and Daniels came up short on a 26-footer seconds later.

When Shaquan Manning could not control the long rebound before touching the sideline, the Colonels' hopes were all but gone.

One free throw by 6-foot-8, 295-pound Davante Gardner and two by Jamar Wertz gave the Eastern Region champions a 49-44 lead and started the party in the King's Fork cheering section.

Manning's 3-pointer at the buzzer was the last shot any of Fleming's five senior starters would take or make in their prep careers.

"In three years we've accomplished a lot, from a state championship, to a regional semifinal, to playing for another state championship," Hardy said. "They've put a lot of wins on the board with very few losses.

"One thing I can say about our basketball team, they are a class team. We're not sore losers. Our motto is this: We win with class, we lose with character. There were no tantrums in the locker room. There were no tantrums on the floor like I've seen some teams do. That's because these young men are young men."

Daniels scored a game-high 15 points while playing all 32 minutes with his left wrist wrapped from a sprain he suffered in Fleming's quarterfinal victory over Booker T. Washington.

The 6-foot-3 guard -- who drew Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg all the way from Atlanta in time for the game -- was just short on his potential tying 3-pointer.

"It looked good," Daniels said. "All my shots looked good. It just came up short."

Behind seven points from reserve forward Tre' Jones, Fleming built a 24-9 halftime lead which could have been larger had the Colonels not gone seven straight possessions without scoring in the second quarter.

Nevertheless, when Daniels banked in a 3-pointer two minutes into the second half, Fleming led 28-9 and King's Fork appeared to have no hope.

"They were beating us in every facet of the game in the first half: passing, defense, dribbling, shooting, rebounding ... you name it," King's Fork coach Josh Worrell said. "I told them at halftime, 'If you want to get your tails whipped and blown out, go out and play the way you did the first half."

Fleming was looking to be just the fourth Roanoke-area school to win a Group AAA championship since reclassification in 1970, following Jefferson in 1970, Patrick Henry in 1988 and 1992 and Cave Spring in 2002.

"We had a great opportunity to do something great," Hardy said. "We just came up two points short."

KING'S FORK (31-1)

Wertz 2-11 3-5 8, Wright 3-8 0-0 9, Parker 2-6 6-8 10, Copeland 3-6 4-4 10, Gardner 0-2 4-6 4, Hearn 3-4 0-0 6, Patterson 0-0 0-0 0, Riddick 0-0 0-0 0, Daughtrey 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 14-39 17-23 49

WILLIAM FLEMING (25-5)

Manning 3-4 2-4 9, Anderson 2-11 1-3 5, Daniels 5-14 2-3 15, Thomas 2-7 1-2 5, Hagins 1-5 2-2 4, Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Jones 3-4 0-0 7, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-46 8-14 47

King's Fork 6 3 16 24--49

William Fleming 16 8 9 14--47

3-point goals -- King's Fork 4-16 (Wertz 1-6, Wright 3-8, Parker 0-1, Daugherty 0-1, William Fleming 5-15 (Manning 1-1, Anderson 0-4, Daniels 3-9, Jones 1-1). Total fouls -- King's Fork 15, William Fleming 18. Rebounds -- King's Fork 25 (Parker 6), William Fleming 34 (Daniels 9). Assists -- King's Fork 7 (Wright, Parker 2), William Fleming 10 (Manning, Hagins 3). Turnovers -- King's Fork 10 (Wright 3), William Fleming 13 (Daniels 4). Blocks -- King's Fork 3 (Wright, Copeland, Gardner), William Fleming 4 (Hagins). Steals -- King's Fork 7 (Wright, Hearn 2), William Fleming 5 (Hagins 3).