Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993 TAG: 9301250241
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI COUNTY PULLS AWAY
Pulaski County's boys were more than happy to let Franklin County play zone defense to its heart's desire Friday night - to a point.When the basketball game reached its critical stage, though, and the Cougars were leading by a scant point, they insisted on playing against nothing but man-to-man and went to a passive spread. Forced to comply, Franklin County was lured into a couple of untimely fouls that host Pulaski County capitalized on as it pulled away for a 68-63 Roanoke Valley District victory.
Ty Hash, a Cougars sophomore, sank a free throw and bonus with 11 seconds left for a 66-63 lead, which forced Tremayne McHeimer to take a 3-point try at the other end. It missed. Another Eagles foul, and Chris Foster buried two more free throws with three seconds left to end it.
"Coach [Pat] Burns told us what he always tells us - be patient and don't force anything," Hash said. "He told us to be smart. And he told us to make sure we made them play man."
Burns' reasoning was straightforward enough.
"It was obvious to me they didn't want to play us man," he said. "They'd been in the zone much of the game. As soon as we got the lead, we were going to make them play man."
Pulaski County (10-3 overall, 3-0 in the district) had trailed by five points with 1:32 left in the third quarter before rallying. The Cougars caught up with two Hash free throws (he made six of eight en route to scoring 18 points), fell back by two on a Carlos Holland stickback seconds later, then went back up 57-56 when another of their sophomores, Eric Webb, sank a 3-pointer with 4:33 left.
Two lead changes later, Hash again made a couple of free throws for a 61-58 lead. Jamie Hale, who had been sensational for Franklin County with 28 points, then put in a basket inside to cut the deficit to one point.
Derek Bryant's steal from the Pulaski County spread could have been the breakthrough the Eagles (7-5, 1-2) needed. But it wasn't because Hale, a post player brimming with confidence, chose to come down and put up a hurried and errant 3-point attempt.
"Unforced and unnecessary," Franklin County coach Calvin Preston said. "I'm never confident with Hale taking that shot. The people in the stands must think I'm a terrible coach, but that isn't in my offense."
Webb got the rebound and was fouled with 1:51. He had made 18 free throws in a row and 22 of 23 coming into the game, but when he was off on the first of the two-shot foul here, that was his third straight miss. He made the second, though, and the Cougars led 62-60.
The Cougars then watched in horror as Ryan Blackburn was whistled for brushing McHeimer beyond arc.
"Wrong guy to foul," Burns said.
McHeimer sank all three free throws. That was the Eagles' last lead. Hash banked one in at the other end with 40 seconds left, and the Cougars never looked back.
Bryant sank a couple of 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for the Eagles. McHeimer ended with 12.
For Pulaski, the heroes were the 10th-graders, Webb and Hash. Webb hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points.
"During warmups, I thought I could do it," Webb said. "The other day at the YMCA, I was shooting a lot from the outside and making them. So I thought I'd give it a try tonight."
Monte Brown poured three more 3-pointers home and finished with 11 points for Pulaski County.
"I don't know why teams like to play us in a zone so much," Burns said.
Preston offered one explanation:
"The paper was wrong last week and I ended up going to Danville to see Pulaski play and they were at home, so this is the first time any of us had seen them play. We'd heard that they had real good athletes but didn't shoot particularly well from the outside.
"I told the players after the game tonight, you can't believe everything you hear." \
see microfilm for box score