Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 22, 1992 TAG: 9202220286
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
COUGARS POUNDED BY EAGLES
Franklin County found its shooting touch Friday night. Pulaski County was its victim.The Eagles hit eight 3-point field goals in the first half and coasted to an 82-59 Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball victory.
The outcome didn't change anything as far as the district tournament is concerned. William Fleming's 93-78 victory over Cave Spring set the pairings.
Franklin County and Cave Spring will meet in a first-round game Tuesday. Pulaski County will play Fleming in Wednesday's semifinals.
For one night, the fourth-place Eagles (4-16 overall, 2-6 in the district) looked as good as anyone in the district. As a result, they handed second-place Pulaski County (12-9, 4-4) its worst loss of the season.
"Coach [Calvin Preston] has told us all year when we have the open shot to take it," said guard Bryan Davis. "And we knew coming into Pulaski we could have a good shooting game. In the past we've had good shooting performances in this gym."
That prediction turned out as accurate as Franklin County's shooting. The Eagles sank eight of their 14 3-point attempts for 57.1 percent while hitting 16 of 29 field-goal attempts overall for 55.2 percent.
"I've been shooting well the last few games," said Derek Bryant, who had three 3-pointers and 11 points, all in the first half. "It's been getting my confidence back up. I feel like I can put the ball up and it's going to go in."
Davis added two 3-pointers, and Stevie Reynolds, Chris Mattox and Treymane McHeimer each hit one as the Eagles bolted to a 45-28 halftime lead.
"I don't know if it being senior parents' night or the last home game of the season or what," said Cougars coach Pat Burns. "We were emotional, but we weren't emotional about the game. We were never really emotionally in it. And that hurt our play. We didn't get the loose balls, the loose rebounds. We didn't get the hands in their face, that type of thing."
Franklin County's shooting cooled down a bit in the second half, but its lead never was fewer than 15 points.
"We just played good defense," said Chris Mattox, who led five Eagles in double-figures with 15 points. "We just wanted to keep our composure and play like we did in the first half."
Franklin County's lead grew to 26 points in the closing seconds.
Chris Burns paced the Cougars with 18 points, 12 of them on free throws.
\ see microfilm for box score