Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994 TAG: 9401270186
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
\ Jason Light was discovered in gym class.
The discoverer accomplished no great feat there because even as a freshman at Floyd County High, Light tended to rise above the crowd. Boys who push 6-feet-5 as a ninth-grader usually attract attention. At Floyd County, as at many schools, big boys don't come around all that often.
Leave it to a basketball coach to draw a bead on such a find.
"I didn't know him, but I thought he should be playing basketball," hoops coach Alan Cantrell said.
Good idea at the time, but not an original one. Jason's older brother, Jerry, a senior in good standing on the varsity that season, had been after the kid for a while to pick up a roundball with serious intent.
"But I never listened to him," Jason said.
The coach was a more persuasive salesman, though, and now Jerry had help.
"They both started working on me," Jason said.
Not long did it take before they broke him down. The summer between his freshman and sophomore seasons, he went to team camp at Radford University with the varsity. It didn't hurt the cause that the Buffaloes had a successful camp and Light played a part in it.
The game's tentacles had reached out and embraced him to its breast.
Light started that winter as a sophomore. It was his first stab at a varsity sport. It was also the first time he played organized basketball.
You might say he was a quick study. Now, they couldn't pry him from the starting lineup with a crowbar.
A year ago, Light helped lead the Buffaloes to a late-season hot streak and the state Group A quarterfinals. This year, Light has the Buffs back as a top contender in the Mountain Empire District.
"We're looking at the regular season as just the first step in getting us back to the state tournament," Light said.
Light and his associates were bitterly disappointed at being ousted by upstart Hurley in last year's quarterfinals. The Buffs had proceeded that far by virtue of winning the MED tournament and then Region C.
Then the great spring blizzard of 1993 hit.
"We only practiced one or two days before we went to the quarterfinal game down at Marion," Light said. "We weren't ready. I wasn't, nobody was."
Light's been ready this year. In a league noted for big, physical post guys, he's stood out with a 20.6 scoring average and a 9.4 rebound average.
"He's improved dramatically year to year," Cantrell said. "He never tries to do what he's not capable of."
Light has his weaknesses. For one, he's pretty much exclusively a back-to-the-basket player. For another, putting the basketball on the floor is a handicap. Flaws and all, though, he has no shortage of admirers.
"He's a force inside in the Mountain Emnpire District," said Radford High coach Rick Cormany, who took that post after five years at Grayson County. "He knows how to find a way to win. Powerwise and strengthwise, he's a stud."
Light leads Timesland with a 73.4 percent field goal average and is its eighth-leading scorer. Although blocks are not kept as part of the Timesland statistics, Light would certainly rank high with 6.1 rejections per outing.
"That's a first for me with one of my players," Cantrell said. "I get on him about that sometimes because when he tries to do too much, he can get himself in trouble."
Light's listening.
"Coach gets on me for playing behind people waiting for the block," he said. "He'd rather I played in front of them."
Still, it must be admitted that he has the knack for the shot attack.
"I don't go for the pump fake very often and I have a pretty good vertical leap," he said.
As big and strong as he is, the inevitable question about Light is why he never played varsity football?
"I just never liked playing it as much as I do basketball," he said.
Light figures to be a nice prospect for a Division III basketball school, and Roanoke College and Emory & Henry have already showed interest.
That's an advantage of picking up a basketball that big brother may never have mentioned.
by CNB