Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 29, 1993 TAG: 9301290191
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SORRY, COACH, YOU CAN'T HIDE THIS TALENT
Random opinion and miscellaneous fact:It is for good reason that they're as tickled as they can be about the future of Pulaski County High boys' basketball. Right now, a couple of the cornerstones of an above-average team are sophomores - Eric Webb and Ty Hash.
Webb you know about. He was the hero of the Cougars' march to their first football state championship and appears to be the most exciting prospect to come out of these parts in years. As Pulaski County basketball coach Pat Burns is quick to point out to anybody who will listen, Webb also can play a little hoop.
Hash is just getting started at basketball, but he's proved to be a quick study. He's tall - 6-feet-4 right now - and maybe still growing.
Hash and Webb combined for 38 points, including five three-pointers (all Webb's) in a highly entertaining 68-63 victory over Franklin County last week.
This is liable to irritate Burns, who each season likes to think his team will sneak up on people, but if big man Chris Foster plays up a storm and Webb, Hash and maybe somebody else gets hot, then this group is capable of upsetting enigmatic Roanoke Valley District favorite William Fleming a time or two and going into the Northwest Region tournament.
Dreadfully sorry, but to paraphrase an old adage, you can't hide talent.
Another group for whom youth is waiting to be served is Blacksburg's volleyballers.
A rapid review of the Indians' results this season indicate two early-season losses to good teams from Salem and Tazewell, and a pair of mid-season setbacks to Highlands District powers Gate City and Abingdon at the Falcons' tournament. Otherwise, the Indians, for whom setter Laura Powell was the only returning starter, have performed solidly and even, at times, very well.
Indians coach Susan Goad loathes the mere mention of excuses, and I would not presume to overrule her or minimize the wisdom of a veteran coach, but in the interests of balanced reporting it must be pointed out that the first two defeats deserve further explanation.
The matches were played as some of the Blacksburg girls were just getting to know each other from a teamwork standpoint. Mary Thorn, Billie Guthrie and Meredith Braine had only just arrived from their labors with the undefeated state champion basketball team. As luck would have it, all three were appointed starters.
Rusty may be too strong a word for their play at the time, but it is accurate to say they are now better acquainted with their ball-batting associates and more comfortable in the flow of the game.
True, the New River District tournament is coming up early next month and that's always iffy. Region IV is very tough and the Indians have shown deficiencies in both service and return of same. On the plus side, Blacksburg (whose other two starters include Samantha Burton and Heather Stockburger) are adept at running an effective offense.
So we shall see.
Concedes Goad: "The team has potential."
Fast breaks:
Giles baseball coach Bruce Frazier was frosted at the recent savaging of the Spartans diamond, described in this space as the New River Valley's worst. His response:
"If you spent as much time on your editorial and writing skills as I do working on that field, then you'd have won a Nobel [maybe he means Pulitzer] Prize by now." . . .
Since opening up a very promising 5-3, Narrows stood at midweek having lost four straight basketball games.
"We're really having problems putting the ball in the hole now," Green Wave coach Todd Lusk said. Since we've been losing, we've been averaging scoring in the mid-40s. They say you live and die by the three-point shot. Well, right now, we're dying by it." Narrows and Giles play tonight and that should be interesting in view of the fact that the last three meetings have been decided by two, one and two points. . . .
One person who won't have to worry about a possible Green Wave-Spartans cliffhanger is the mother of Giles center Mike Moser. The Spartans have had two double-overtime affairs and she walked out after the first of the four extra periods, never to return. Said she couldn't take it.
Radford wrestling coaches Buddy Shull and Jeff Smith and Christiansburg boss Dean Underwood are headed for the Big 10 championships March 5-6 at Ohio State. They figure with all the heavy hitters in that league - Iowa and Michigan, to name a couple - it's just as interesting as going to the NCAA's but doesn't involve a trip to Ames, Iowa. . . .
Shull questions the dedication of today's high school wrestlers, recalling that former Bobcats state champion Andrew Hall once spent three nights at his house to avoid infection by flu-stricken family members at his own house. Hall wanted to take no chances on being debilitated for upcoming matches.
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News
Keywords:
VOLLEYBALL