Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060304
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"Let's see, we had to do that against Franklin County and against Heritage," Cougars coach Pat Burns said. "Well, we haven't exactly blown anybody out all year."
Nor did they blow away the Blacksburg Indians on Tuesday, except perhaps at the free-throw line. The Cougars took 47 free throws and made 32 of them - 15 in the fourth quarter - in a 75-65 non-district victory on the Indians' floor.
That was 21 points and 26 more attempts than Blacksburg had. The bulk of the scoring differential went to Pulaski County point guard Kevin Alexander, who nailed 17 of 21 free throws en route to 25 points.
Alexander went 10-for-13 in the final 3:40 as the Cougars were trying to maintain a five-point lead.
"They did a good job of keeping it in Alexander's hands," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "Nobody else much touched it."
Perry Beverly and Chris Burns, along with Alexander the Cougars' most experienced players, attempted six free throws down the stretch, making five of them. But for the most part, it was Alexander's show to run.
"Chris Burns is the only player we have who's shooting over 70 percent from the line," Pat Burns said. "Kevin is shooting 67 percent. The rest of them are on down there. How far, I'm not going to say.
"We like to think that we have better free-throw shooters than they've shown."
Blacksburg (12-4), which had to make do without leading scorer Jon Maher (19.3 points per game), out battling the flu, turned out to have more outside shooting than it had shown.
The Indians fired in eight 3-pointers, one-third as many as they scored in the previous 15 games combined. Forward Thompson Lester had three treys and scored 21 points and point guard Nathan Warren added three more 3-pointers and finished with 15 points.
"They shot better than I've seen them," Burns said. "They shot it better than the first time we played [a Pulaski County victory] and the two other times that I scouted them.
"That caused us some problems because Thompson Lester can play. He's so much stronger than anybody we've got. He just goes in there and scores or gets fouled, or both."
Blacksburg had other contributions, particularly from Tracy McCoy, who had 13 points. Eight Indians scored.
"Every time we've asked somebody to come off the bench and play a role, they've done it and done it well," Trear said. "That's good to see and good to know."
Pulaski County (8-9) bounced back from a heartbreaking 63-60 loss at William Fleming on Friday with a big game from sophomore center Chris Foster, who scored 18 points and hauled in eight rebounds as the Cougars prevailed on the backboards 33-22. Foster also made six of 13 free throws.
"That's the best Foster has played," Burns said.
Beverly went 5-for-8 on free throws and finished with 13 points. Chris Burns added 10.
Blacksburg suffered from a flawed inside game with the absence of Maher. Chris Smith and Kevin Pinder scored seven points between them, but both fouled out. Walter Smith still appeared to be slowed by a bad ankle and hobbled away for good with 5:42 left and three points.
"In the last five minutes we had problems because we had four guards and Thompson [Lester]," Trear said. "We couldn't get any rebounds. All we could do was foul."
PULASKI COUNTY (75)
Alexander 4 17-21 25, Burns 4 2-3 10, Foster 6 6-13 18, Burchett 3 2-2 9, Beverly 3 5-8 11, Quesenberry 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 32-47 75. BLACKSBURG (65)
McCoy 6 0-0 13, Pinder 1 1-2 3, Lester 7 4-8 21, Warren 5 2-3 15, C. Smith 1 2-2 4, W. Smith 1 1-2 3, Kohler 1 0-0 2, Morton 1 1-2 4. Totals: 23 11-19 65. Pulaski County 11171928-75 Blacksburg 21111320-65
Three-point goals: Pulaski County, Burchett. Blacksburg, Lester 3, Warren 3, Morton , McCoy. Total fouls: Pulaski County 16, Blacksburg 22. Fouled out: C. Smith, Pinder.
JV: 66-44, Pulaski County.
by CNB