Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 21, 1992 TAG: 9202210015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RINER LENGTH: Medium
VERSATILITY PAYS OFF IN AWARDS FOR AUBURN HIGH TWO-SPORT STAR
Perhaps the only athletic advantage a small school has is that it almost demands versatility from its best athletes.Ponch Linkous has come through for Auburn High by being more than versatile. He's been versatile and good.
Linkous became only the second New River Valley athlete this year to be chosen player of the week in two sports. A couple of fine basketball games did it for him last week. During the fall, he was tapped for the honor in football.
As it happens, the other two-season player of the week was Linkous' football and basketball teammate Brian Sale.
Linkous landed in the select company by leading the Eagles with 14 points in a 58-47 loss to Galax and then scoring 22 points, including the decisive field goal and foul shot on a three-point play, in a 70-67 upset of Fort Chiswell.
The score was tied and time dwindling when Auburn called a timeout to set up a last shot.
"When we came out, we were surprised to see them in a zone defense," said Linkous, a 5-foot-6, 138-pound senior. "Then when they saw us trying to run our offense, they switched defenses."
At that point, the man defending Linkous left him alone.
"That's when I said, `Go, Ponch!' " Auburn coach Kevin Harris said.
Ponch went. From the middle of the lane, he sank an 8-footer that put the Eagles up by two. In the process, he was being fouled. Although he's only a 50-percent free-throw shooter - understandably a sore point with his coach - he drilled the subsequent free throw to put the pressure on the Pioneers.
The best they could manage was an off-balance 3-footer by Doug Mabry that caromed away at the buzzer.
Linkous was more than happy to oblige with the clutch launch.
"The coach told me to shoot," he said. "I shot."
"One of the things I always tell them is to shoot before they have a chance to throw it away," Harris said.
Linkous didn't play basketball last year for the first time in a while, opting to train on the weights in order to prepare for football.
"I'm sorry I didn't play basketball, but it paid off in football," Linkous said.
Linkous rushed for more than 1,000 yards to pace the Eagles in that regard. However, he did not make first-team All Mountain Empire District.
"That made me mad," he said.
Harris intends to push him for all-district in basketball at the end of the season.
"If he's not one of the 10 best players in the district, then I'm surprised," Harris said.
Linkous averages 9.7 points per game, 13.5 over the last half of the season. He also has 51 assists and 50 rebounds in 19 games. Harris says that he can beat a zone press on the dribble.
The numbers don't tell all. Linkous is very quick and fast and has uncanny leaping ability. Small hands prevent him from dunking a basketball, but he can stuff a softball. He can grab the rim with both hands, an ability he attributes to his five-day-a-week weight training last year.
The long basketball off-season (he played as a sophomore and freshman) set him back this year, though.
"It took at least half the year before he regained what he'd lost by not playing last year," Harris said.