Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290288
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CAVS RIDE HORSES INTO FINAL
With apologies to the history of Notre Dame football, Lord Botetourt's "Three Horsemen" gave the Cavaliers a spot in next week's Region III basketball tournament and yet another meeting with Northside.The Cavaliers' Three Horsemen - Craig Layman, Derek Loyd and Bobby Prince - scored nearly all of Botetourt's points - 72 - and more than the entire Salem team for a 78-70 victory in the Blue Ridge District tournament semifinals Friday night at the Salem Civic Center.
Prince, with 26 points, Layman (25) and Loyd (21) pulled Botetourt (15-7) out of trouble in the second half. That produced a third victory over Salem (9-11) for the season and set up tonight's championship game against the Vikings at 8:30.
"The three seniors, the Three Horsemen, stepped up and all of them had a great game," Botetourt coach Don Meredith said. "Everyone always says it's tough to beat a team for a third time. But it's just 32 minutes of basketball. We've played teams in the past we've beaten 18 times in a row or 14 times in a row."
Salem built a 37-31 lead late in the first half as Josh Pugh, who scored 24 points, dominated inside and Nathan Routt scored seven of his nine points.
Then the Cavaliers pressured Salem when it was trying to rest a couple of starters, forced three turnovers, and by halftime Botetourt had gone ahead 38-37. After a couple of minutes sparring in the third quarter, the Cavaliers built a five-point lead and the Spartans never got into challenging position again.
"I think we got tired. It was probably more noticeable tonight, playing on a big court against their pressure game," said Salem coach Len Mosser, who was hoping to get his team into its first Region III tournament.
Botetourt's defense shut off Salem sophomore Mark Byington, who didn't get off a shot in the third quarter, although he wound up with 15 points and hit three 3-point shots.
"We made adjustments in our zone and covered their corner shooters. Then we didn't get in foul trouble banging them under the boards," Meredith said.
The Vikings made 27 of 64 shots, with Prince, Layman and Loyd hitting 24 of 50. Botetourt also made six of 16 3-point attempts.
Salem was 30-of-66 from the field, but the Spartans lost this game at the free-throw line, as they did in the last regular-season meeting two weeks ago, by making only six of 16 compared with 18 of 20 for Botetourt.
Northside and Botetourt have had three great shootouts this season, with the Vikings surviving 90-83 Monday night to win the regular-season Blue Ridge District title in a playoff.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this place isn't packed tomorrow night," Layman said. "I really think this will be a pressure game. If we can become tournament champions, it's just as important."
Prince said: "After we lost to them Monday, we realized that one loss [except for tomorrow] and we were out of the tournament. We'd love to go in with a win over them. We want to go into the regional on an upswing and we want them to go in on a downswing."
Four years ago, the teams were in this same position. Botetourt had lost a playoff game to the Vikings for the Blue Ridge regular-season title at Salem, then came back to win the tournament championship. The next week, the Cavaliers advanced to the Group AA tournament while Northside suffered a last-second defeat to eventual state champion Magna Vista in the Region III semifinals. \
see microfilm for box score