ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Mock hysteria broke out with 1 minute, 47 seconds left in the boys' basketball game Friday night between the visitors from Pulaski County High and William Fleming. Perhaps a few of the gasps and muffled screams were sincere.
The skinny mouse that waddled out on the floor, parting giggling players and officials as it went, took the only sensible course. As players sitting on the Cougars' bench lifted their feet obligingly, the undernourished-looking critter scurried for safety under the bleachers.
There may have been an occasion or two when Pulaski County ballhandlers wished they could have taken similar refuge.
Fleming wore its guest out with defense, forcing a deluge of turnovers on the way to a 68-44 Roanoke Valley District rout.
So businesslike were these Colonels (10-4 overall, 4-0 district) that they barely cracked a smile when the mouse insinuated itself into the proceedings.
What they did to the Cougars (8-5, 1-2) was no laughing matter, either. It was an early bedtime for the guests.
``The thing that disappointed me was that we had played so well in the first quarter,'' Pulaski County coach Pat Burns said. ``Then we got into so much of a hurry. It looked like everybody who touched the ball couldn't wait to get rid of it.''
Press-phobia can do that to you, especially if you're not used to that sort of menace. With five sophomores, including starters Justin Peek, Dorian Hendricks and Jason Dean playing many minutes, the Cougars got the sort of schooling that one doesn't look back on with much fondness later in life.
The Cougars had 19 turnovers, six of those coming in the second quarter as Fleming was going to town with a 26-5 scoring rampage.
Fleming never let up on the defensive end, even in the rare instances when the press was off.
``Everybody was into the game,'' first-year coach Roland Lovelace said. ``And everybody played pretty good defense.''
There wasn't much the Cougars could do despite a combined 21 points from Hendricks and Ron Branch.
The Cougars have had some attrition lately, which forced Burns to raid the junior varsity team for more help. Roger Adams played his first varsity game and scored eight points. Beau Feris, a 6-foot-4 transfer from Chicago, couldn't play because of illness.
You got the feeling that Fleming didn't care what the other team was doing.
``The game got out of hand, but we just kept trying to play our game,'' William Fleming's Charles Burnette said.
That was harder to do after the mouse appeared, but the Colonels didn't seem to lose much of their focus. Jeron Walker finished with 14 points, Burnette added 12 and Roland Reynolds kicked in 10.
Burns said he'd never seen anything like it.
``As long as I've been in coaching, I've seen and been a part of many things,'' Burns said. ``But that was the first time I've seen a game interrupted by a rodent.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB