ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602130013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
It's already too late for some, but it's about time people become aware of the folly of putting Christiansburg High's basketball players on the free throw line.
Blacksburg was the most recent to be schooled as the Blue Demons made up for a trying night of field-goal shooting to make 17 of 19 foul shots. Carlton Ashbrook's free throw with no time showing on the clock sealed a 46-45 New River District victory.
With a 3-0 record in the district and a 13-3 record overall, Christiansburg claimed its second straight regular-season league championship. Blacksburg will take its 1-2 record in the district and start preparing for its final hope for this year, the New River tournament.
``Glad to see us getting our free throw stroke back,'' Christiansburg coach Gerald Thompson said. ``This will put us back over 70 percent for the year.''
Seventy percent for an individual would be cause for rejoicing in some quarters; for Christiansburg, that's the team average. And it's that low because the Demons have been slumping lately.
Two heroes emerged down the stretch for Christiansburg. The first was Trey Stone, whose jumper tied the score 45-45 with 24 seconds left.
``We hadn't been doing much offensively,'' Thompson said. ``That basket was huge.''
Not doing much is putting it in gentle terms. The Blue Demons, whose strength has been accurate shooting, were 14 of 46 (30.4 percent) from the floor for the game and that included 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) in the first half.
There were six ties and eight lead changes, with one of each coming in the last 24 seconds. Stone's tying shot followed Blacksburg's Jon Hutchins' miss of a bonus free throw with 39 seconds left that had left the Indians with a 45-43 lead. After Christiansburg knotted the score, Blacksburg called a time out. When the huddles broke, Hutchins came open quickly on the left baseline and feathered a shot up a trifle long.
``How much time went off the clock there after we'd called that time out?'' Blacksburg coach Bob Trear wanted to know. ``I'm not sure that one tick had gone off. It was a good shot, but we didn't call a time out in order to take a split-second shot.''
Stone came to the rescue again, this time with the rebound of the Hutchins miss. Two passes later and Ashbrook was going up for the winning shot while being hacked.
Ashbrook only had to make the first free throw - he was eight of nine from the stripe and he finished with a team-high 16 points - before he could raise his arms in triumph as the home fans flooded the floor.
As much as it struggled, Christiansburg showed that it could pull together in difficult times. After losing Darrell Calloway, its leading scorer and Timesland's second-leading rebounder (15.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg) in the last two weeks to ineligibility, other players contributed more.
Friday, all nine players who played scored and that included six each from Stone, 6-foot-6 David Rhudy, and Conan Morgan, who has played sparingly this year. Rhudy had nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
``Rhudy didn't play or do anything for a month because of a low blood count,'' Thompson said. ``He's not even in shape and yet he's played very well lately. And Morgan did a heck of a job for us off the bench after not having played much.''
Hutchins had 19 points, including a couple of 3-pointers, and center Philip Klaus added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
``We weren't patient enough to get the ball to the people we needed to get it to in the first half,'' Trear said. ``Klaus is shooting 65 percent and what did he have in the first half, three shots?''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Christiansburg's Jesse McHose puts up aby CNBshot over Blacksburg's Philip Klaus during the first quarter on
Friday at Christiansburg. color.