Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 8, 1995                   TAG: 9501100028
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAVE SPRING WHIPS COUGARS

The determined Knights, fueled by 26 points from Matheny, whipped previously unbeaten Pulaski County 69-48 in a Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball matchup at Cave Spring High School.

Two Matheny-led spurts proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Cave Spring (8-4, 2-0) scored the first 10 points of the second period in taking a 26-12 lead. Matheny had seven of his 15 first-half points during the run.

"I was getting a lot of good screens from my teammates," Matheny said. ``We had a lot of patience on offense and didn't force any shots."

Cave Spring's patience would be tested. After taking an 11-point lead at halftime (34-23), the Knights saw their lead cut to 41-35 with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the third period when Cougars forward Tyrone Hash hit a running jumper in the lane.

Billy Frantz then nailed a 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining in the period to push the Knights' lead to nine, 44-35. That started Cave Spring's second 10-0 run in the game and they never were threatened again.

"It's where we want to be," Knights coach Chris Carr said of his team's 2-0 district start. "It's nice; it's a lot better than being 1-1 or 0-2. We still have some things we need to improve on; we're not purchasing any fool's gold here."

Carr was pleased with the play of Matheny, who was 8-for-11 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

As a team, the Knights shot 18-for-19 from the foul line compared to 7-for-12 for the Courgars.

"Matt Matheny is a great basketball player," Carr said. "He's a great kid. I've got nothing but praise to say about that young fella."

Matheny was also largely responsible for holding his forward counterpart, Eric Webb, to 12 points. Webb did not score in the fourth period.

"We felt like if we could contain Hash and Webb, we could win the game," said Matheny.

Hash led Pulaski County (6-1, 1-1) with 23 points.

Pulaski County coach Pat Burns said his team got down on itself after falling behind.

"I didn't feel like we were in the ballgame, offensively or defensively, at all," Burns said. "We haven't had any games where we were behind early and we didn't react to it well."