Emphatic victory: Petersburg vs. Freeman

PETERSBURG - The Petersburg boys basketball team heard the talk that No. 5 Douglas Freeman was capable of eliminating the Wave from the ranks of the unbeaten and the Central Region tournament.

Coming into last night's tournament quarterfina, the Rebels - situated in the top five of the Times-Dispatch Top 10 all season - had lost to just one region team, fellow Colonial District member John Marshall (albeit three times) and a team from North Carolina.

The talk turned out to be just that. The Wave, No. 1 in the region and the state, used all its multitude of resources to throttle the Rebels 78-58 and move into the 6 p.m. semifinal Friday at the Siegel Center against Henrico, a winner over Thomas Dale last night.

The Wave is 27-0 and so far avoiding the region tourney pitfall that ended the season for unbeaten Petersburg teams in 1991 and 1995.

"We took this game personally," Wave forward Chris Evans said. "We wanted to come out and play our game. We didn't want to overlook anybody."

As it has done frequently this season, Petersburg hustled to a big lead in the first quarter. Douglas Freeman scored the first four points of the game, but at period's end, the efficient Wave had scored on nine of 13 possessions and led 20-9.

Cadarian Raines, the Central District player of the year, and Evans had a dunk each and limited the Rebels to one second-chance field goal. Guards Drejon Scott and Tyre Desmore hit 3-pointers, and the Wave's physical and aggressive defense forced the Rebels to hurry shots.

Raines blocked a shot by AAU teammate Josh Brinkley early and altered another. Brinkley, Douglas Freeman's leading scorer, also picked up two fouls in the quarter. He finished the night with 10 points and was hardly a factor.

"We wanted to get on the boards and control the tempo," said Evans, who had four dunks among his 19 points.

The Rebels changed defenses, played better in the second quarter and cut their deficit to five points at halftime. The Wave, meanwhile, settled for jump shots that didn't fall.

"In the second quarter, Tyre and Chris were on the bench in foul trouble, and Cadarian didn't touch the ball," Petersburg coach Bill Lawson III said. "At halftime, we made sure the offense would go through him."

Petersburg increased its lead to 14 points through three quarters and put the game away early in the fourth quarter. Two spectacular dunks by Evans sandwiched a 3-pointer by Scott, who contributed 18 points. Raines (20 points) scored six consecutive points to put the Wave up 67-44 before the Rebels started fouling, but to no avail.

Freeman's Jake Eastman had to work hard against Petersburg's Chris Moore and Raliek Greene for his game-high 28 points.

"They are very physical and attack the boards," Douglas Freeman coach Larry Parpart said. "You have to play tough against them. They took us out of things we like to do. They are a good basketball team. Especially down here."

Contact Arthur Utley at (804) 649-6559 or .

DOUGLAS FREEMAN (21-5)

Eastman 28, Mann 8, Smalley 0, Smith 0, O'Connor 0, Giles 8, Rohrer 4, Brinkley 10, Tucker 0. Totals 19 17-21 58.
PETERSBURG (27-0)

K. Green 0, Mason 4, Desmore 8, Moore 2, Evans 19, Scott 18, R. Greene 3, Hoosier 2, Raines 20, Tyler 0, Spain 2. Totals 28 17-28 78.
Douglas Freeman ------------------------- 9 19 10 20 - 58
Petersburg ------------------------- 20 13 19 26 - 78

3-point goals: DF - Eastman 3. P - Scott 3, Desmore 2.