Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994 TAG: 9401270232
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
And the Eagles made the Cougars pay with every swish of a free throw.
Franklin County countered Webb's 31 points with some dead-eye free-throw shooting and a combined 52 points from Carlos Holland and Chad Foutz in a key 75-69 Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball victory Wednesday night.
Foul trouble kept Pulaski County from showing what a tangle with Webb will leave.
The Eagles, who are tied with Patrick Henry a half-game behind first-place Cave Spring, held off the Cougars by hitting 25 of 27 free throws, including their last 17.
"Unbelievable," said Foutz, who was 9-for-9 from the line and scored 24 points. "[Free throws] won the game for us. It's funny, because in the games we lost, [free-throw shooting] killed us."
Pulaski County, which had lost a 72-63 decision at Patrick Henry less than 24 hours earlier, erased a nine-point halftime deficit behind Webb's 12 points in the first five minutes of the second half.
The Cougars (4-8 overall, 0-3 Roanoke Valley) led 43-41 when Webb was whistled for his fourth foul with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
With Webb on the bench, Franklin County (7-5, 2-1), which had been outscored 12-7 by Webb in the period, got seven points from Foutz in a 12-3 run to end the quarter.
"We were pretty glad to see [Webb] leave the game," Holland said. "He was killing us down low."
Holland left few under-the-basket survivors himself in recording his third consecutive double-double, this one on 28 points and 12 rebounds. He, too, was perfect from the free-throw line, going 8-for-8.
Holland helped stake the Eagles to a 34-25 halftime lead by scoring seven of Franklin County's 11 second-chance points in the second period.
"I was in the right place at the right time to pick up the garbage," he said.
K.C. Hancock, who scored 14 for the Eagles, was 5-for-5 from the line.
"We've got three of the best free-throw shooters around in [Jason] Conklin, Foutz and Hancock," said Calvin Preston, Franklin County's coach. "And Carlos can knock 'em down. . . . The kids rose to the occasion. This was a big win."
Webb returned to the Pulaski County lineup for the start of the fourth quarter and hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 spurt - which featured two baskets from Jamar McNair - that brought the Cougars to 69-64 with 46.4 seconds left.
The Eagles hit six consecutive free throws to ice it. They were 12-for-12 from the line in the final quarter.
Pulaski County, which was 9-for-19 from the free-throw line, got 11 points from Tyrone Hash while enduring its third tough loss in as many district games.
"I'm not panicking," said coach Pat Burns, whose Cougars were considered one of the top two teams in the district heading into the season. "We've just got to get through this." \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB