Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 15, 1992 TAG: 9201150261
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHYLLIS A. FAIR SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BYRD RALLY UPENDS CAVE SPRING
"Welcome to the Terror Dome."The song by the rap group Public Enemy not only was good to listen to warming up but a perfect description of the way William Byrd's home court may have felt to Cave Spring on Tuesday night.
The Terriers (5-3) came back from an 11-point deficit to defeat Cave Spring 65-61 in a non-district boys' basketball game.
"If a game is close and we're playing at home, we're going to win it," William Byrd coach Paul Barnard said. "Our kids never quit. We started going full court and got a couple of turnovers. [And] we got some good rebounds on the offensive boards.
"A lot of guys made plays both offensively and defensively. It was a team effort. It's a good win going into the district [play] Friday."
William Byrd was trailing 52-41 with 5:39 to go in the game when it went on a 15-3 run to regain the lead. Sophomore guard Donald Childress was the catalyst.
Childress kicked off the Terriers' run with a pull-up jumper with 5:32 left. Less than two minutes later, he gave William Byrd a 56-55 lead when he was fouled and made two free throws.
He stole Cave Spring's inbound pass and made an outside jumper to put the Terriers up 59-55 with 2:49 left in the game.
Within a minute, the Knights (6-4) outscored William Byrd 4-0 to take over the lead, but the Terriers fought back with a 5-1 spurt to win the game.
"We played a lot on emotion, but we played with confidence," said David Robertson, who fouled out for William Byrd with 51 seconds to go and finished with 18 points.
"We were confident with our shot. After I fouled out, I thought it might be another overtime game." William Byrd's past two games against Fieldale-Collinsville and Christiansburg went into overtime.
Senior Brian Young said when the Terriers trailed, the players got together and decided to step up their defense to get back into the game.
"You need defense and rebounds down the stretch to win the game," Young said.
The Terriers' full-court press and trapping defense got three key turnovers that gave the momentum to William Byrd.
Lavinder kept the Knights in the game. He made seven 3-pointers, four in the first half, and was Cave Spring's leading scorer with a season-high 24 points.
"He can shoot with the best of them," Knights coach Rick Crotts said. "That's what kept us in the game early."
see microfilm for box score