ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: CHRIS LANG STAFF WRITER
Floyd County's run-and-gun offense was slowed down by Grayson County in the Region C semifinals at the Dedmon Center on Friday night.
It was slowed down, but not stopped, however, as Floyd held on for a 60-52 victory and clinched a berth in the state tournament.
Floyd County will meet Glenvar, a 52-46 winner over Parry McCluer in overtime, at 7 p.m. tonight at the Dedmon Center for the Region C title.
After Grayson County took a 10-5 lead in the first quarter, the Blue Devils went cold for the next 8:13. Meanwhile, the Buffaloes were rolling, going on a 20-0 run to take a 25-10 lead with 3:55 left in the first half.
"We didn't have a whole lot of movement on offense," said John Ayers, the Blue Devils' coach. "We tried to dribble it too much. When you have to play catch-up against a team like Floyd, it's very difficult."
The Buffaloes, led by postman Jason Dalton's 17 points, are more accustomed to playing games in the 70s and 80s as opposed to games in the 50s and 60s. Floyd adjusted to the pace of the game, however, and ran its lead to 16 points early in the fourth quarter.
That's when Floyd's game changed.
"I thought that we stopped playing to win and started playing not to lose," Floyd coach Alan Cantrell said. "We stopped being aggressive at both ends of the floor."
Grayson was able to cut into the lead, but down 16 going into the final frame was just too deep of a hole for the Blue Devils.
Behind the hot shooting of junior guard Chad McMillian, who scored half of his 16 points in the final period, the Blue Devils cut the Floyd lead to 55-52 with 19 seconds left.
But Floyd hit its free throws down the stretch, knocking down 12-of-15, to thwart the Grayson comeback.
"I tried to convince the guys that they wanted the ball and wanted to get fouled," Cantrell said. "They went to the line and knocked down the free throws and controlled the clock."
Floyd hit just three field goals in the fourth quarter, all in the first two and a half minutes.
Coming into the game, Ayers said he thought his team matched up well with Floyd, except for in the post.
"We match up well with all of them except Dalton," Ayers said. "Our guards have been our strength all year."
The Blue Devil guards - McMillan, Wes Self and Derek Phipps - did an admirable job of stopping Floyd's leading scorer, Travis Cantrell. Cantrell scored 15 points, but 11 of those came from the foul line. Coach Cantrell had to look to others to score as well.
"Justin Lucas came in and did a great job for us, as did Brian Swortzel," Alan Cantrell said. "Those two came in off the bench and gave us some quality time. We're going to need that if we want to go any further."
Once again, it was Floyd's defensive pressure that did an opponent in. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 16 times, six of those coming in the critical 20-0 first half run.
But when the Floyd post players sat in the fourth quarter, Grayson was able to make its run.
"I think it was a matter of them getting into foul trouble," Ayers said. "We didn't do a very good job of stopping either Dalton or [forward Derek] Saunders tonight."
Both Dalton and Saunders picked up their fourth fouls early in the final quarter for Floyd. NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB