Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 7, 1992                   TAG: 9203070230
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PHYLLIS FAIR SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DALEVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

COVINGTON TOPPLES FLOYD TO REACH FINAL

The team that had the final streak was going to win the game. Floyd County rebounded from Covington's first two mini-streaks, but the Buffaloes couldn't get enough energy to do it in the final stretch.

Covington outscored Floyd County 25-7 in the fourth quarter to win 70-52 in the Group A Region C semifinal game at Lord Botetourt High School. The Cougars (22-3) will play Lebanon tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the championship game. Defending Group A champion Lebanon defeated James River 68-47. Covington and Lebanon qualify for next week's Group A tournament.

Floyd County ends its season with a 21-3 record. After being down 32-30, Covington outscored the Buffaloes 9-2 to lead 39-34 with 6:14 to go in the third quarter.

For the next four minutes, the teams traded baskets until the Cougars went cold. With 2:51 left in the quarter, the Buffaloes went on a 6-0 run to tie it at 45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Just when it seemed as if the Buffaloes would regain their first-half lead, Covington went on another streak. The Cougars outscored Floyd County 12-2 to establish a 57-47 lead on Van Wallace's two free throws with 3:22 left.

Travis Crawford, whose fifth foul put Wallace on the line, scored his 1,000th point early in the game to become the sixth Floyd County player to do so.

With Crawford out, much of the Buffaloes' offense was gone.

"That hurt our team," said Floyd County coach Alan Cantrell. "When Travis fouls out, it takes away a major part of our offense and a ball handler."

When Crawford left, the Cougars went on a final streak, outscoring Floyd 13-3.

Cantrell said he knew this game was going to be one of streaks.

"They [Covington] run in spurts," he said. "They'll run off 6 to 8 points, then settle down, then run off another 6 to 8 points. We recovered from two other streaks, but we couldn't work ourselves back into it. We weren't able to recover from this final streak."

Covington coach Brad Morton said, "Floyd County played a lot more aggressive than we did in the first three quarters.

Via led Floyd County with 23 points followed by John Hawley with 12. \

see microfilm for box score

Keywords:
BASKETBALL