Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993 TAG: 9301230253
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
BLACKSBURG HOLDS OFF
When it seemed the momentum had turned against it Friday night, Blacksburg went back to its game plan.The Indians went inside, and they took archrival Christiansburg's chances of an upset with them.
Blacksburg scored the final six points and defeated the Demons 37-31 in a New River District boys' basketball contest.
Christiansburg (1-12 overall, 0-2 New River) had pulled even with the Indians (4-9, 2-0) at 29 midway through the final quarter, but Blacksburg went back to Jay Safford. The 6-foot-3 junior did his part to sent the Demons to their ninth straight loss.
With 3:09 left, Safford followed up a missed shot by Ben Araman to put the Indians up 31-29. With 2:36 remaining, he gave Blacksburg the lead for good, 33-31, on a layup.
With 27 seconds to go, he made both ends of a bonus free-throw opportunity to extend the lead to 35-31 and all but seal the win.
"Basically, I'm trying to set up Ben inside," said Safford, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. "Then, when I get the ball to him, I pop back open. And if I get the ball one-on-one, I know I can take my man."
The Indians' defense also did its part in securing the win. Christiansburg did not score after a pair of free throws by John Hairston made it 31-31 with 2:51 to go. The Demons missed their last five shots from the field.
"We picked up our defense when they got back in the game," said Blacksburg guard Craig Turman, whose two free throws with 13 seconds left ended all suspense. "We had gone to a 3-2 zone. Then they had a run. So we went back to our man-to-man. They have some good shooters."
Hairston heads that list, but after his free throws, he disappeared from the Demons' offense.
"We wanted to get the ball to Hairston inside, but we weren't able to," Christiansburg coach Gerald Thompson said. "The one time we got him the ball, he was fouled and he nailed the two free throws. But Blacksburg did a good job of covering him. And we didn't do a good job getting the ball to him."
Blacksburg needed the late-game heroics because it blew an 11-point third-quarter lead. It had scored seven straight points - two layups by Safford and a Turman 3-pointer - to go up 23-12, forcing the Demons to call time out at the 3:32 mark of the third quarter.
By the end of the quarter, however, the advantage was down to five points. Christiansburg finally pulled even at 29 with 3:52 to go when Kevin McDowell swished a 3-pointer from the right baseline.
Hairston was the Christiansburg mainstay in the surge with six of his team-high 11 points. Meanwhile, the Indians went 2-of-6 from the field, 0-of-2 from the free-throw line and committed nine turnovers in a 7 1/2-minute span.
"We wanted to go inside the whole ballgame," Blacksburg coach Bob Trear said. "But we just got outmanned when we tried to go inside [during the Christiansburg run]. And when we did get it in, we'd put it on the floor and they'd take it away from us." \
see microfilm for box score