Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 9, 1993 TAG: 9301090273
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI COUNTY ROUTS CAVE SPRING 66-42
For Pulaski County, it was the easiest Roanoke Valley District basketball road victory since Coach Pat Burns arrived seven years ago.The Cougars thrashed Cave Spring 66-42 as nine of 10 Pulaski County players scored at least one point.
"We're 6-2 and we've played six games on the road," said Burns, whose squad is off to a 2-0 start in the district. "So we ought to be a good road team."
The main contributor was sophomore guard Eric Webb, who scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Cougars dominated the boards 46-23. That's the same Webb who less than a month ago sparked the offense as Pulaski County won the Group AAA Division 6 football championship.
"Webb can play. If you think he can play football, watch him play basketball. Talk to [Patrick Henry coach] Woody Deans or the East Tennessee coach," Burns said.
Webb, however, has no dreams about becoming a Magic Johnson. "I'm better at football and I really like football [more]," Webb said.
He was clearly the leader as the Cougars' defense shut down Cave Spring's offense. The Knights scored two points in the opening quarter and went only 5-of-27 from the floor in the first half.
Pulaski County led only 29-16 at the half because the Cougars had made 20 turnovers. When the Knights hit four quick field goals to whittle the lead to 34-25 with 5:33 left in the third period, the defense took over again as the Cougars held Cave Spring scoreless for the next 8:46 before Dusty Beekman's 3-point goal made it 54-28.
"I thought we had a super first half on defense and played good defense again in the second half," Burns said. "I wasn't all that pleased with the offensive intelligence. We were taking only five seconds to get a shot off."
"That was one of our better games defensively," Webb said. "Coach said we had to come down and get a hand in their face because they shoot the 3-point shot well."
It worked. The Knights managed only three 3-pointers out of 17 attempts. Robbie Hibbs, the Knights' leading scorer, was shut down with five points. Cave Spring (3-8, 0-2) made but 15-of-54 shots while the Cougars, who wound up with 30 turnovers, connected for a respectable 25-of-52 from the floor.
"They just kicked our behinds and part of it was my fault for getting a technical when we had the ball," said a frustrated Cave Spring coach Rick Crotts. The second-year coach picked up a technical early in the fourth quarter after the Cougars had opened a 22-point lead and the game was virtually over.
"I'm a poor example to these kids," Crotts said. "Pulaski went after us offensively, defensively and on the boards. Their whole team including the second team all the way through the game."
Chris Foster led Pulaski County in rebounding with nine and also pitched in 14 points - 10 coming in the final quarter. Tyrone Hash, another sophomore on this young Cougar team had 10 points with eight coming in the first half. He also had a couple of assists, two steals and seven rebounds. \
see microfilm for box score