Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290211
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOTETOURT ESCAPES WITH WIN
With 2:36 left and his team down by three points, Lord Botetourt's Bobby Prince failed to convert his first free throw in a bonus situation.For Timesland's fifth-best free-throw shooter, it was a rare miss. It wasn't costly, though, because Botetourt's Craig Layman got the rebound, drew a foul and hit two free throws as the Cavaliers outscored Byrd 13-6 down the stretch for a 73-69 Blue Ridge District boys' basketball victory Tuesday night.
At the end, Prince sank four straight free throws as Botetourt (7-5 overall, 2-0 in the district) nursed a lead. For the game, Prince fired in 16 of 19 free throws, including 10 straight.
"As many free throws as I shoot, you're bound to miss some," said Prince. "You just don't want to miss any big ones."
Layman's rebound was the first of several big plays for the Cavaliers. Another came with the score tied at 65. Derek Loyd swept up a loose ball just over midcourt for a layup that put the Cavaliers ahead 67-65 with 1:20 left.
"I was guarding the man on top, and their wing made a pass to him. He had already made a cut and I just had to chase the ball down," said Loyd.
After Byrd's David Robertson tied the score with two free throws, Botetourt's Cline Dooley muscled his way in for a layup with 50 seconds left to push the Cavaliers ahead for good at 69-67.
Byrd's Brian Young misfired on a 3-point attempt, and the Terriers (6-6, 1-2) were forced to foul. Their only option was Prince, who refused to give up the ball.
Byrd's troubles came because of fouls the entire night. The Terriers committed 30 personal fouls; two starters fouled out while the other three had four fouls each.
Matt Reynolds and Donald Childress were on the bench for nearly the entire second quarter with three fouls each. In the opening half, Botetourt stayed in contention by making 17 of 25 free throws compared to eight of 12 by Byrd.
"One of our goals is to try and make the other team foul more than us and for us to take more free throws," said Byrd coach Paul Barnard. "Then they did a good job on the boards and we made some mistakes at the end. At one time we were up by three points and failed to get a shot off twice."
The contest boiled down to Byrd's inside game against Botetourt's run-and-shoot offense led by three guards - Prince, Layman and Loyd. Oddly, the Cavaliers had a 35-33 rebounding edge, led by a game-high 12 rebounds from Layman.
Still, Byrd freed Robertson up on the block time and again. Young had five assists, most of them to set up Robertson, who dominated inside. Robertson finished with a game-high 29 points and hit 11 of 12 free throws.
Botetourt's guards never got in the flow offensively. Byrd stopped the Cavaliers' running game, and Botetourt made only two of 16 3-point attempts.
"We weren't real sharp and we were off balance on our shots. But they really got on us and did a good job and did a good job of keeping the ball away from Bobby [Prince]," said Botetourt coach Don Meredith. "In the second half, we had to try to get a back pick to send Bobby down the baseline. We worked and worked on a quick ball reversal. After we didn't hit our threes, we had to do something to negate their height advantage."
Neither team shot well. The Cavaliers made 21 of 53 shots, and Byrd was 22-of-48. The Terriers hit only three of nine shots in the final quarter as Botetourt rallied. \
see microfilm for box score