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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995                   TAG: 9502080093
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI ANSWERS CALL

``You don't want to know what I told them,'' the Cougars' coach said. ``I really don't like to call the game's first timeout. If I have to do that, then I'm angry.''

Whatever Burns told his team worked. Pulaski County took control and dominated on the way to a 79-63 victory.

It became apparent Pulaski County was going to step up the pace. The Cougars tied the score at the end of the quarter and took the lead for good when Tyrone Hash hit a jumper with 5 minutes, 47 seconds left in the half.

``Patrick Henry was playing harder and we weren't,'' Hash said of the slow start. ``We had to make up our minds to play basketball and play defense like we always do.''

Defense this winter has helped Pulaski County hold opponents to 40 percent field-goal shooting; no team has reached 70 points against the Cougars. PH made 25 of 63 (39.7 percent) field-goal attempts. The Patriots' Chris Combs, third-leading scorer in the Roanoke Valley District, managed only nine points.

Still, PH (6-10 overall, 0-5 in the district) wasn't out of the game until a sudden turn late in the opening half. Jamar McNair hit a shot from near midcourt at the buzzer, giving Pulaski County a 34-27 lead at intermission..

In the third quarter, Eric Webb took over. The Cougars (14-2, 4-2) scored the first 10 points in the period, and Webb, who had the first three points of the surge, wound up scoring 14, making four steals and adding one assist.

``I looked at the board the first half. It definitely wasn't that good, so we stepped up our defense and I guess it came through,'' said Webb, the district's scoring leader, who had a game-high 22 points. The senior forward hit nine of 14 shots and had five of the Cougars' eight steals as they completely disrupted the PH offense.

``We played in spurts,'' said Burns, who was somewhat relieved his first timeout provided the desired results. ``At times we played terrible and at times we played well. We did play really good defense.''

The Cougars hit 31 of 51 shots from the floor and in the third quarter connected on 11 of 12 attempts. Burns did have one more unsettling moment, when he had to rush his starters back into the game after PH whittled the Cougars' lead to 72-58 with 2:32 left by scoring 13 consecutive points.

``Really, Pulaski County played very well,'' said Woody Deans, the Patriots' coach. ``They have a lot of talent. We were within four in the first half. Then, the guard [McNair] hits the 3-pointer and they go on that third-quarter streak. That was the game.''

Pulaski County's Brian Ratcliff had 13 points and five assists. Every Pulaski County starter had at least one assist.

For PH, only Phillip Taylor could hit double figures in points with 16 points.