ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 1995 TAG: 9512130070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
It probably won't be doing most basketball teams much good to challenge Christiansburg High School to a free-throw shooting contest.
Floyd County's Buffaloes were the most recent to discover the Blue Demons are not the ones to send to the stripe more times than is absolutely necessary. Christiansburg made nine of its last 10 and 30 of 37 free throws to stop the Buffaloes 77-61 in a non-district game Tuesday night on the Demons' floor.
``That's what we do best right now,'' said Gerald Thompson, Christiansburg's coach. ``Coming in, we'd made 29 of 35, so this keeps us right on pace.''
The primary members of the firing squad were forward Darrell Calloway, who sank nine of 10 on the way to 21 points; Carlton Ashbrook, who buried six of eight en route to 20 points; and big men Michael Kyzee and David Rhudy, who combined to make eight of nine.
Floyd County (1-1) trailed by four points after Jason Dalton swept in for a layup to make it 62-58 with 2:53 left, but Christiansburg went on to score 12 of its last 15 points from the free-throw line to put away the game.
``Aside from a minute or so at the beginning of the each half, I thought we played a pretty good game,'' Thompson said.
Christiansburg was plenty aggressive enough in a game that stayed close until the final couple of minutes. The Demons (3-1) also got 11 points from guard Jessee McHose and 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots from Kyzee, a sophomore post man.
``Kyzee played very well,'' Thompson said. ``And Rhudy played a lot better.''
Floyd County got 18 points each from its prized sophomores, Travis Cantrell and Jason Dalton to go with 10 each from Jesse Slusher (two 3-pointers) and Derek Saunders.
Alan Cantrell, the Buffaloes' coach, was a little bit downcast afterward.
``No intensity,'' he said. ``Except for a couple of spurts in the first quarter and another in the third, we did not play with the enthusiasm we have to have have.
``Christiansburg took it to the hole extremely well and we weren't getting any help-side defense. We have to do better than that.''
Floyd County really had nobody to match up with Calloway, who is going to give a lot of people a hard time this season. He ended up with 11 rebounds and four steals.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Christiansburg's Eric Lucas (left)by CNBand Floyd County's Travis Cantrell battle for a loose ball during
Tuesday night's game in Christiansburg. Lucas and the Blue Demons
prevailed 77-61.