Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 8, 1992 TAG: 9201080156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
INDIANS TRIP COUGARS
It didn't set well with Blacksburg's Darren Morton that Pulaski County's basketball backcourt duo of Chris Burns and Kevin Alexander had visited the Indians' gym last month and hogged all the attention in a victorious effort.Tuesday, Morton and his teammates exacted revenge.
Morton, a senior point guard starting for the first time on varsity, sank six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points, had one turnover and held his poise throughout as the Indians rallied for a 58-57 non-district victory.
"The whole team played great, but Darren was our leader," said forward Chris Smith, who scored 10 points.
Morton scored only three points in the fourth quarter, while Blacksburg (5-3) was coming back from a 48-43 deficit. But he was a total nuisance defensively and he hit the winning point on a free throw after he was intentionally fouled by Chris Foster with three seconds left.
"I knew I had to take it to them," Morton said, summarizing his play. "Because they sure took it to us the last time we played."
Jon Maher chipped in 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Blacksburg, then second-guessed the Cougars' defensive strategy.
"They probably concentrated too much on me, dropping down to help out, and leaving Darren open," he said. "Darren can shoot."
Cougars' coach Pat Burns said there were plenty of mistakes to go around.
"The thing that upsets me is that we work on things for two days in practice and then go out and do the exact opposite."
No question, the Cougars (3-5) weren't up to the standard they set last Friday in a well-played loss to Patrick Henry, the top Group AAA team in the state. Burns and Alexander, who burned the Indians so severely the first time, combined for 21 points and three 3-pointers in the rematch.
Burns scored only two points in the fourth quarter and Alexander none.
"We were trying to get Matt Smith to double down on the ball and that seemed to make them put up the shots quicker," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "It also seemed to take the ball out of Alexander's and Burns' hands."
Pat Burns didn't like that much either.
"We worked on playing against a triangle-and-two all last week in anticipation of PH using it," he said. "We have an offense against the triangle-and-two, but we didn't get anything out of it tonight."
Most of the Cougars' offense came from the low post area, where Foster had 13 points (7 of 10 from the free-throw line) and six rebounds, and John Akers chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
Akers scored Pulaski County's last four points to cap a 7-0 run and put the Cougars up 57-55. Maher responded with a lay-in with 21 seconds left to tie it.
Alexander missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left and Blacksburg called a timeout to set up a play. The Indians picked for Morton, who went long and got clobbered by Foster for the intentional foul that settled it.
Morton's air ball on the second free throw was one of his few gaffes all night.
"He played well," Trear said. "He's small, but he's as good a guard as you can find around. That's not bragging. That's just a fact." \
see microfilm for box score