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The Washington Post                                         Sunday, March 7, 1999, D8

Virginia AAA Quarterfinals
Out of Desperation, Lee Wins It
by Mitch Rubin, Special to The Washington Post
RICHMOND, March 6—With four seconds remaining in tonight's Virginia AAA boys quarterfinal, it was hard to imagine a scenario in which No. 15 Lee could possibly beat George Wythe. Senior guard Omar Philmore came up with one.
     Philmore made an off-balance three-point shot just inside halfcourt at the buzzer to give Lee a heart-stopping 49-48 victory over the Central Region champion. With the win, Lee (22-6) became the second Northern Region runner-up to upset a Central champion today at the Arthur Ashe Center.
     The No. 8 Robinson girls (24-5) began the doubleheader with a hard-fought 65-58 victory over Henrico.
     "I saw they had Val [Brown] double-teamed and I knew I had to do something with the ball," said Philmore, who finished with nine points. "I was just thinking about getting the ball over halfcourt as quick as I could. I saw the clock had two seconds on it and launched it. . . . It's beautiful. I got my schoolmates out of school for a couple of days."
     Lee and Robinson advanced to the state semifinals, to be played Thursday at the Scope in Norfolk. Robinson will play No. 11 Woodbridge at approximately 5 p.m. and Lee will face Princess Anne at 9 p.m.
     Brown led the team with 17 points and Roger Jackson added 16. With Lee trailing 45-44 with 30 seconds left, Brown missed a runner in the lane. George Wythe's Ivan Smith (20 points) missed a free throw and Brown rebounded, was fouled and made two free throws to give Lee a 46-45 lead with 11 seconds remaining.
     Jermaine Watts then converted a three-point play with four seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 48-46 lead before Philmore hit his game-winner. "You don't expect to win a game on that type of shot," Lee Coach Michael Harris said. "You just have to have faith."
     In the girls game, a total of 16 fouls, including three technicals, were called in the third quarter. When order was restored, Robinson's Myriam Baccouche calmly stepped to the free throw line and made all nine of her attempts to rally the Burke school from an 11-point deficit and defeat Henrico (24-5).
     "We hit some big threes, then got the ball down low and they had a tough time matching up with us inside," Robinson Coach Dwight Trimmer said.
                         © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company

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LEE 49, GEORGE WYTHE 48

Lee (22-6) -- Jackson 16, Sapp 3, Vick 2, Goodin 2, Brown 17, Philmore 9.
Totals 19 4-8 49.

GW (26-2) -- Jaaber 2, Mason 7, Mayo 4, Smith 20, Watts 15.
Totals 18 11-18 48.

Halftime: George Wythe, 28-21.

The Fairfax Journal                          Monday, March 8, 1999  B1/B2

N. Va.'s four make 'Final Four'
Lee stuns Wythe on buzzer-beater
By Joe Ferraro, Journal Staff Writer
RICHMOND – After losing the lead with four seconds left, Lee boys basketball coach Mike Harris didn't go back to his drawing board during his team's Group AAA state quarterfinal against George Wythe Saturday night.
     Harris called a timeout before George Wythe's Jermaine Watts stepped to the free-thrown line and completed a three-point play to give the Bulldogs a 48-46 lead.
     Harris had just three words for his players: Got to believe.
     After Watts made his free throw. Lee's Omar Philmore took an inbounds from teammate C.J. Vick, sidestepped a defender just before he crossed halfcourt, and launched a shot off his right foot near the edge of the center circle.
     Swish. Omar Philmore hit a 40-footer at the buzzer to give Lee a victory.
     Philmore was mobbed by his teammates near midcourt of the Arthur Ashe Center after his 40-foot answered prayer gave the Lancers an incredible 49-48 victory over the Central Region champion.
     The buzzer-beater earned Lee (21-6) a trip to the Norfolk Scope, where it will face Eastern Region Champion Princess Anne at 9 p.m. Thursdays in a state semifinal – the Lancers' first "Final Four" appearance since 1988.
     The state final is 3:15 p.m. Saturday.
     "I saw they had Val {Brown] double-teamed, and I knew it was all on my shoulders," Philmore said, "I knew I had four seconds. We practice this drill every day, getting the ball up the court.
     "When I got it to halfcourt, I looked at the clock and saw two seconds left. I just let it go and it went in . . . I'm ecstatic. I can't even think right now."
     For Harris, there was no victory sweeter than his one, considering the Lancers have come up on the other end of such dramatic shots.
     But on this day, memories of Hayfield's Cornell Felton hitting a shot at the buzzer to give the Hawks a 77-75 win in a 1997 region semifinal had been erased.
     The drill Philmore referred to involved simply rushing the ball up the court and "getting the best shot possible," according to Harris.
     "{I told the players] four seconds is plenty of time to score – just have to believe."
     Said Vick, "That rush that I felt was something I'll probably never feel in my life. I can't explain it in words. Usually, the ball bounces the other way for us]. This time we got lucky, and we're going to Norfolk. And nobody expected us to do this, and we did it."
     Brown (team-high 17 points) hit two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give Lee a 46-45 lead.
     Brown rebounded a missed free throw by Ivan Smith (game-high 20 points) and raced down the court before being fouled.
     The stage was set for Philmore's heroics after the Bulldogs' Luqman Jaaber penetrated into the middle of the paint and dished off to Watts, who was underneath the left sid eof the basket.
     Lee raced to a huge, early advantage during a game in which both teams held double-digit leads.
     Brown's three-pointer with 2:17 left in the first quarter gave Lee a 13-2 lead. Lancers' center Roger Jackson scored six of his 16 points in the first quarter. Lee drew three charges in the first quarter.
     George Wythe (26-2) responded by applying a 3-2 zone and an assortment of defnsive schemes to limit Lee's inside game. The tactic enable Wythe to gain the lead.
     The Lancers didn't score a basket in the second quarter until Bobby Sapp's 17-footer with 4:04 left in the first half, bring Lee to within two (18-16).
     The Bulldogs then went on a 10-2 run for a 28018 lead just before intermission.
     "They did a great job of taking the ball inside on us," Harris said. "We kind of got locked on our interior defense, and offensively we starred doing too much on the perimeter."
     Lee regained the lead with 5:26 left in the third quarter when Philmore and Brown hit three-pointers for a 30-29 advantage.
     Six lead changes and three ties followed with neither team leading by more than four points.

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