Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 4, 1994 TAG: 9402040059
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
Peter Bucklin came through with the goods and put a torch to Auburn in a battle for first place in the Mountain Empire District last week.
Bucklin scored 11 of the Buffs' last 13 points as they were fending off a comeback bid by the Eagles. Through his labors, Floyd County prevailed, 75-66.
Bucklin scored 16 points in all, 13 of those coming in the second half. Included in this 11th-hour barrage was a 3-pointer (a shot he rarely takes) and a 4-for-4 performance at the free-throw line. Bucklin's teammates were a combined 0-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter and missed the front ends of five one-and-one's.
"I knew they were having trouble shooting the free throws, so it made me think that much harder about making them," he said.
Bucklin, who was 4-for-5 from the line for the game, conceivably could have had a couple of more points to his credit in the decisive fourth-quarter stretch, but the first shot of a bonus free throw was waved off with 4:51 left because of a lane violation.
Bucklin had a similarly crucial role in a 63-62 win over Grayson County earlier in the week, scoring 12 points.
"I didn't play well the last time we saw Grayson County," he said of the game in which the Blue Devils handed the Buffs their only defeat. "If I had, we probably would have won the game."
Bucklin got his first start against Auburn, a game that Floyd County won on the Eagles' court.
"In that first Auburn game, I didn't do very much," he said. "I don't think they thought much of me. I wanted to step it up some the next time we played."
Bucklin, who is an athletic-looking 5-foot-8 junior, has been better known in these hilly parts for his football and baseball playing. Bucklin was a running back and linebacker and one of the main contributors to a team that had a surprisingly good 1993 season. In baseball, he played catcher and batted .484.
"I always thought that football and baseball were my best sports, because my size works against me in basketball," he said.
In Bucklin's case, there's more there than size, Buffs basketball coach Alan Cantrell said.
"He may be small for a basketball player, but he's strong and physical," Cantrell said. "He's a good athlete. He's also quiet and coachable. He'll do whatever you tell him to and not say a word."
One of the things that Cantrell has been telling him is to shoot more.
"He's got good form on his jump shot," Cantrell said. "[Assistant coach] Jerry Light was watching him the other day and said, `He ought to be taking more 3's.' Now, if we can only get him to do it."
\ FLOYD NOTES: Jason Light, the Floyd County center, fell and broke two teeth this week in practice. He is not expected to miss any games.
by CNB