Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992 TAG: 9201110254
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
KNIGHTS RAP PULASKI COUNTY
It wasn't that Pulaski County's strategy was poor. The Cougars even played decent defense. Friday night, however, Cave Spring's offensive execution was nearly flawless and the Knights smacked Pulaski County 82-65 in a Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball game.Led by Kerry Whitt's 19 points, the hot-shooting Knights (5-3 overall, 1-1 in the district) shot 52.3 percent (23-of-44) and sank eight 3-pointers, four by Jason Lavinder. Cave Spring was equally effective from the free-throw line, making 28 of 32 attempts.
"That's as good a shooting night as I've seen a team have," said Pulaski County coach Pat Burns. "It wasn't bad defense by us, just excellent shooting. [The Knights] shot their eyes out."
Cave Spring not only shot well, but it rendered Pulaski County's zone defense useless by zeroing in from the perimeter. Including the eight 3-pointers, 15 of Cave Spring's 23 field goals came from beyond 10 feet.
Patiently working its motion offense, Cave Spring rotated the ball around Pulaski County's match-up zone before rifling passes inside. But instead of muscling their way to the basket, the Knights' big men sent the ball back outside to guards Whitt, Lavinder and Chris Webster, who pumped in long jumpers. Webster scored 16 points, and Lavinder had 12.
"The kids played very well," Cave Spring coach Rick Crotts said. "We executed the offense to create some easy shots, and when we get easy shots, we can shoot very well. We can shoot 3-pointers with the best of them. We spend a lot of time working on that."
By comparison, Pulaski County (3-6, 0-2) had virtually no perimeter attack. Almost lost in the shooting performance was a solid defensive effort by the Knights that negated Cougars guards Kevin Alexander and Chris Burns.
"The pressure [defense] on Alexander and Burns really bothered them," Crotts said.
The Cougars didn't get a basket from outside the lane until Alexander's 15-footer midway through the third quarter. Alexander and Burns each finished in double figures, Alexander with 11 points and Burns with 13, but most of their points didn't come until after the outcome was decided.
Leading 12-11 in the first quarter, Cave Spring opened a lead when Whitt made a follow basket and Lavinder made the game's first 3-pointer.
Four 3-pointers in the first half staked Cave Spring to a 40-30 halftime lead.
Sparked by three more 3-pointers and a 12-of-13 free-throw shooting, the Knights outscored Pulaski County 27-13 in the third quarter to take a 24-point lead. "The way we executed, that was an easy game to coach," Crotts said.
"I didn't have to do much work, just sit back and clap."
John Akers led Pulaski County with 14 points, and Chris Foster scored 11.
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.