On Thursday night when the Hawks’ A-players Greg Lewis and Russell Lyons were saddled with foul trouble, Coach Troy Manns hoped his role players would turn in an A+ performance in the tight intra-county rivalry game with Patrick Henry. What Manns’ backups gave him was an F. However, in this case F did not stand for failure but rather the first initial of sophomores Justin Flemming and Patrick Fehl, a pair of Hawks who stepped up when the call came and secured the 58-50 win over the Patriots.

  All season long the Hawks coaching staff has been citing articles from newspapers, magazines and television sports shows to provide a case of role players rising to the occasion. For Manns, the efforts of Flemming and Fehl were a perfect example of what he has been preaching. “One of the things we wanted to focus on is, be ready when your time is called,” Manns said. “When your number’s called be ready because you never know.”

  In the important county rivalry game, Flemming and Fehl each scored a dozen points to help the Hawks hold off a determined comeback from the Patriots.

  Flemming only started logging substantial minutes this season when junior point guard Dee Taylor was slowed by an injury. “He’s a basketball player,” Manns said of Flemming. “He loves the game. He eats, breaths and sleeps it so when he gets an opportunity he just tries to make the most of it.” In the starting lineup, Flemming’s solid play at point has allowed Lewis to stick to his shooting guard role.

  Against the Patriots, Lewis (17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) got the Hawks off to a hot start with a 6-0 lead in the first minute and a half on drives to the basket.

  But then both teams sputtered as Patrick Henry couldn’t buy a basket and Hanover could do nothing but foul, recording seven over the next six minutes.
  It was D’Vonte Derricott (25 points) who got things rolling for the Patriots with five points over a 13 second span to pull Patrick Henry within one, 6-5.

  Then with the concentration of the Patriots’ defense on Lewis, Fehl came into the game as a release valve. Open on the left baseline, Fehl drilled a three. Thirty seconds later Fehl got the ball open on the right baseline and nailed his second. Another half minute and it was Fehl from deep once again, capping a run of three consecutive threes over a two minute span and pushing the Hawks’ lead to 15-8.

  “It’s a credit to Patrick (Fehl) because he’s been working his butt off in practice,” Manns said. “We get on him, he smiles, he shakes his head, ‘yes sir, no sir,’ and keeps trying and tonight it paid off for him.”

  Hanover’s Stephen Alexander opened the second quarter with a basket and a pair of free throws to widen the margin to 22-8.

  Even though Lewis went to the bench with his third foul with two minutes to play in the half, the Hawks appeared to have the game well in hand when Flemming drilled his second consecutive three for a 31-17 Hanover lead heading into the locker room.

  However, Manns knew the game was far from over. “(Patrick Henry) didn’t make a lot of shots in the first half and I knew they would come back,” he said. “This being a Hanover County game, there are never blow-outs. So when we went up I was like ‘okay,’ but I knew they weren’t going to shoot the ball as poorly as they did in the first half. They’re very aggressive, they’re athletic and they’re going to make shots.”

  Patrick Henry head coach David Wyatt didn’t relate exactly what he told his team at the half. “I don’t know if you want to know,” he smiled. “We just try to light a little bit of a fire under them. I told them we have to pick it up, in no uncertain terms. We’re better than this. It’s going to come on the defensive end. There’s too much standing around. Not enough talking. No offensive movement. Tried to light a fire under them.”

  Whatever Wyatt said worked. Ramon Minor and Derricott drilled a pair of threes in the opening minute of the second half and suddenly the Patriots were back in the game.

  Hanover’s Lyons (6 rebounds) momentarily stopped the bleeding off a dish from Danny Trsic (8 points, 8 rebounds) to push the margin back to 10, 33-23, but Hanover did not make another field goal until 1:20 left in the period.

  A three from Patrick Henry’s Clay Schools trimmed the margin to seven, forcing Manns to put Lewis back in the game. But a minute and a half later, Lyons was tagged with his fourth foul and sent to the bench, leaving the Hawks without size in the post and PH took advantage by driving the ball and picking up fouls.

  A trio of free throws and jumper from Derricott trimmed the lead to three with 1:41 left in the third, but baskets by Trsic and Lewis widened the gap to 38-33 heading into the final period.

  “We knew they were going to come in the second half anf make a run, but we just have to keep playing defense,” Lewis said.

  Flemming agreed. “We had a feeling that they would come back on us because it was a rivalry game and games tend go like that,” he said. “We had a suspicion and we do what we could but we came out strong.”

  The fourth quarter turned into a free throw affair as the two teams went to the line for a combined 26 times.

  A pair for free throws from Minor trimmed the Patrick Henry deficit to six, 39-33 with 7:27 to play but then the frustration of youth provided the game’s pivotal play.

  Chasing down a run-out that resulted from a turnover, the Patriots’ Gibson Vaught was whistled for a hard foul then a technical on his reaction.
  Flemming went to the line for the Hawks and sank all four free throws to push the margin back to 10.

  “That technical really hurt us,” Wyatt said. “That was the turning point of the game really. We had all the momentum in the world and they turned around and make those four free throws.”

  Two minutes later, a put-back by Trsic and three from Lewis widened the margin to 48-33.

  A Trsic layup with three minutes to play gave Hanover a 14 point lead, 54-40 but the Hawks did not make another basket over the remainder of the game.

  To their credit, Patrick Henry did not throw in the towel. “They didn’t quit,” Wyatt said. “We got down by 14 then a little bit of pressure in the last couple of minutes.”

  A shot inside by Vaught was followed by a steal a layup from Derricott. When Minor swished a three from the left wing at the 1:50 mark, Patrick Henry had pulled within five, 55-50.

  Patrick Henry was forced to foul to extend the game and Hanover answered, making 8-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes of play to seal the win.
  The victory is further evidence of the improvement of Hanover (6-7) which has gone 5-3 over its last eight games including a win over previously ranked Armstrong earlier in the week.

  “We’re having a lot of enthusiasm in practice, working hard and hoping to continue this win streak,” Flemming said.

  For Patrick Henry, the effort showed that they could be a team that returns everyone next season and could be a force to be reckoned with.

  “We didn’t show up the first half,” Wyatt said. “Played pretty hard the second half. That’s pretty well it. We’ve been playing two or three quarters and haven’t been able to put four quarters together yet. We’re a real young team. We start freshmen and sophomores, sometimes they play well. Sometimes they don’t.

  “The future’s bright, it’s just very frustrating waiting for that future to get here,” Wyatt added. “You see the bright spots and you just want to see them keep playing like that but you’ve got to take the good with the bad when you’re young.”

PATRICK HENRY (2-10) Schools 5, Morris 0, Derricott 25, A. Smith 0, Minor 14, Vaught 6, Lambert 0, Wiltshire 0, Jackson 0. Totals 14 15-25 50.
HANOVER (6-7) Taylor 0, Jennings 3, Fehl 12, Lewis 17, Fleming 12, Alexander 4, Lyons 2, Trsic 8,
Rogers 0. Totals 17 16-25 58.
Patrick Henry…... 8 9 14 19 — 50
Hanover…........... 18 13 7 20 — 58
3-point goals: PH — Minor 4, Derricott 2, Schools 1. H — Fehl 4, Lewis 2, Fleming 2.
Highlights: PH — Derricott 7 rebounds, 3 steals. H — Trsic 8 rebounds; Lyons 6 rebounds.