Allen Iverson RARE Bethel high school highlights *Basketball state champion

Exactly 14 weeks after leading Bethel High School to the state Group AAA football championship and saying he wanted to do the same thing in basketball, Allen Iverson teamed with backcourt partner Tony Rutland to do just that Saturday night.

verson put Bethel ahead to stay by stealing the ball from JM guard Vasean Smyre near midcourt and finishing his drive with a resounding dunk for a 71-69 lead with 1:27 remaining.

``Iverson just made a super play on the steal,'' Sherod said. ``I should have gone to the ball and helped Smyre.

``He's a great player and did what great players are supposed to do in crunch time.''

Rutland's successful jump shot with 52 seconds left, his 13th field goal of the game, provided some breathing room for the champions. Iverson added two free throws and another dunk for the final margin.

``I had a feeling we were going to win it, even when John Marshall tied it up near the end,'' Iverson said. ``I said I wanted to lead this team to a basketball championship the day we won the football title.

``And thanks to Tony and Dante'' Travis ``and the other guys who stepped up, we did it again.''

Iverson's 28-point output increased his Virginia High School League single-season record total to 948.

``It was a boyhood dream come true for me,'' Bethel coach Mike Bailey said. ``When I first came to Bethel in 1985, I heard Coach'' Dennis ``Kozlowski talk about winning a state track championship. I said then I would like to get one of those for Bethel in basketball.''

Bailey cited Bethel's switch to a diamond-and-two defense as a huge factor in the victory.

``We went to our old friend the diamond, and it brought us gold,'' he said. ``It was just like so many other games this season with us having to scratch and claw for everything.

``I haven't seen a better player than Allen in crunch time, but Sherod is right up there, too. I don't know if it was a case of John Marshall being a little fatigued at the end, or whether it was just another case of the endless energy our guys showed all season.''

Sherod felt the game might have been even closer than the six-point final margin.

``It was two evenly matched teams,'' he said. ``It could have gone either way, but they made the crucial plays at the end.

And they had Allen Iverson.

Iverson and Rutland combined for 58 points, and both produced crucial plays in the final 1:27 to ensure a 77-71 Bruins victory against pesky John Marshall of Richmond with 3,100 looking on at University Hall.

Bethel (28-3) capped the most successful season in school history with its 20th consecutive victory, despite a superb 34-point performance by John Marshall's Edmund Sherod. The Old Dominion University signee's relentless effort included making a Group AAA tournament-record 16 of 19 free throws.

But it was Iverson and Rutland who took control in crunch time after the Justices had rallied to forge a tie at 69 with 1:47 left to play.