Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060242
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
FREE THROWS SLIDE INDIANS BY BOBCATS
The law of averages dictated that someone for Blacksburg had to make some important free throws Friday night.With 12 seconds left in overtime, Dallas Strager became that fortunate shooter.
The Indians trailed Radford by one point when Strager stepped to the free-throw line. When he left, they led 60-59.
That would be the final score as Blacksburg (6-10 overall, 4-0 district) won its 20th straight boys' basketball game against New River District teams. The victory, coupled with Carroll County's loss to Christiansburg, also means the Indians have clinched at least a tie for another district title.
Radford (6-10, 1-2) saw its three-game winning streak - its longest in three years - end on Strager's free throws.
"I was thinking we had had some bad experience shooting free throws," Strager said. "I knew I had to make mine to get something started."
Strager went to the free-throw line because he and Garrett Jones of Radford tangled trying to rebound a missed free throw by Radford's Chris Hairston. Hairston had made his first free throw, breaking a tie at 58, but he missed to the left on the second attempt.
Once at the free-throw line, Strager almost put too much on his first shot. It bounced off the backboard but banked into the basket, tying the score at 59. His second swished through the net.
Strager's made free throws came after seven straight misses for Blacksburg. The skein included the first shot in five bonus situations, four of which occurred in the final 1:36 of regulation as Blacksburg tried to hold off the Bobcats' charge.
"But they made two big ones at the end; he even banked one in," Radford coach Brenda King said. "Blacksburg's players always seem to come through."
Radford had one last chance. After a timeout with nine seconds remaining, the play called for Hairston to drive to the basket. But the Indians' Todd Perdue kept Hairston from penetrating, Hairston's shot bounced off the front of the rim and two Bobcats could not chase down the loose ball before time expired.
"We would have liked to have a little bit more of a power drive to the basket," King said. "But Chris is more of a finesse player. I'm sure he took what he thought the defense had given him."
For Perdue, self-preservation motivated him to stop Hairston.
"I didn't want to be in the [Radford] highlight film," Purdue said. "I'd been dealing him up [playing defense] all game. I didn't want to let him get that last shot."
Hairston did make the highlight film by forcing the overtime. He took a pass from Matt Linkous and drove for a basket with 12 seconds left, tying the score at 56.
The basket came on the Bobcats' third attempt to pull even in the final minute. Each came after Blacksburg missed its first free throw in a bonus situation.
Each team got a final shot at winning in regulation but saw long shots miss the mark. Greg Shockley, Blacksburg's long-range sharp-shooter, had a 25-footer bounce away with five seconds left. Hairston's last-second effort from the right corner hit the top of the backboard. \
see microfilm for box score