Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992 TAG: 9202080333
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
SIZZLING COUGARS ZAP CAVE SPRING
Cave Spring's bus broke down on the way, but the Knights buckled under to Pulaski County's defense once the game began Friday night.The Cougars, who are finding out how sweet it is to be at home, won their eighth straight by thrashing the Knights 68-46 in a Roanoke Valley District boys' basketball game that started 45 minutes late Friday night because of the malfunctioning bus.
Pulaski County (11-6 overall, 3-2 Roanoke Valley) never trailed and was never in trouble as Cave Spring shot 34.6 percent (17-of-49) from the field. The Cougars didn't do much better (22-of-53 for 41.5 percent) offensively, but their defense made the difference.
The Knights' Kerry Whitt, the RVD's second-leading scorer, had only 11 points (more than seven under his average) and didn't make a basket after the first quarter.
"Our defense was super and we were playing with so much more enthusiasm than we did over there," Pulaski County coach Pat Burns said. The Cougars' last loss was 85-62 at Cave Spring as Whitt scored 19 points.
Pulaski County played only once at home in its first nine games, but it has played six of the past eight at home and the difference has been notable.
"I think all the road games took it out of us," Burns said. "At 3-6, it would have been easy to give up."
Cave Spring (9-8, 1-4) never had any intensity, although it trailed by only 10 after three quarters before falling behind by 14 in the fourth.
"Our kids had a lot to deal with," said Cave Spring coach Rick Crotts, referring to an early-morning car accident that claimed the life of David Gardner, who had been a teammate of many of the Knights' seniors when they played junior varsity ball two years ago. Cave Spring players wore a black ribbon in Gardner's memory.
"I know this sounds like an excuse, but for young men to deal with that, it was tough," Crotts added. "But then you have to deal with adversity all through life and you have to attack it, not step away from it. I think we thought we could step away from this tonight."
Pulaski County's Chris Burns and Kevin Alexander were too much for the Knights to deal with as they combined for 37 points.
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: a longer version of this story ran in the New River Valley edition.