Cave Spring Holds Hidden Valley At Bay In 62-50 Boys Win

Cave Spring senior ball handler Mason Reyer runs the Knight offense in the first half on his way to a team-high 16 points in the Cave Spring 62-50 win.
Cave Spring senior ball handler Mason Reyer runs the Knight offense in the first half on his way to a team-high 16 points in the Cave Spring 62-50 win.

It was a typical Cave Spring-Hidden Valley boys basketball rivalry game Thursday night in the Titans’ gym.

A pair of teams battling for bragging rights in front of a overly-raucous full house.
In the end, Cave Spring took a 47-36 lead into the fourth quarter, before keeping the margin between 10 and 14 points the rest of the way, to outlast the Titans 62-50.
“We found a way to win,” Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse said afterward. “I think  we got caught up in the rivalry. Everybody knows everybody and it was their senior night. It was a 12-point victory for us and I’ll take that any time. In the second half we were able to keep them at bay.”
Cave Spring wasted no time trying to duplicate their earlier 29-point win over the Titans last month.
Hidden Valley junior Thomas Engl attacks against Cave Spring defender Devin Beckner Thursday night in the Titan gym.
Hidden Valley junior Thomas Engl attacks against Cave Spring defender Devin Beckner Thursday night in the Titan gym.

Senior Mason Reyer took the opening tip, went into the right side and launched a long-range bomb that found nothing but twine for a 3-0 Knight lead. It gave Cave Spring a lead it would never give up.

Cave Spring hit four of its first five shots from the field to push its advantage to 9-2, and led 14-9 after one quarter.
The Knights’ lead reached 12 on junior Brad Kinder’s trey late in the second quarter before Hidden Valley wrapped up the first half with senior Tyler Hampton’s bomb at the buzzer that closed the Titan deficit to single digits, 29-20.
Hidden Valley opened the third quarter with an 8-3 run, keyed by a pair of 3-pointers from deep in the left corner by Hampton that cut the Cave Spring lead to 32-28. Scrappy play highlighted the battle the rest of the quarter before Cave Spring went up 45-36 on sophomore Devin Beckner’s old fashion 3-point play, The Knights then got the benefit of a 3-pointer by Titan sophomore Jonah Fitzgerald being waived off with 49.7 seconds left, leading to a technical foul on the Hidden Valley bench. Two-of-four free throws on the exchange sent Cave Spring to the final 8 minutes up 47-36.
Cave Spring opened the fourth quarter scoring with a Beckner put-back of a Reyer miss and Baker Haviland hitting one-of-two from the charity stripe to put the Knights ahead 50-36.
Hidden Valley gave up a golden opportunity to get back in the game with 6:04 left when Fitzgerald was fouled on a 3-pointer, Cave Spring picked up a technical and the Titans got the subsequent possession. The potential 8-point play ended with 3-of-5 free throws
and the Titans failing to score after the inbounds play.
“We had our chances,” Hidden Valley head coach Kevin Burcham noted in the Titan locker room. “We battled, we kept competing  and most importantly, we didn’t break. We had chances to cut into their lead several times, but we didn’t convert. We need to eliminate those droughts by improving our execution.’
“Hidden Valley shot it well,” Gruse added. “We never got in a groove offensively or defensively. We should have done a better job of putting them away.”
Reyer had a team-high 16 points for Cave Spring, with senior Brody Hicks adding 15 and Beckner coming off the bench for 11 key points for the Knights.
Fitzgerald had a game-high 22 points for Hidden Valley, with Hampton and junior guard Joseph Keenan each knocking down 9 points for the Titans.
Hidden Valley will now entertain Blacksburg in Conference 32 first round play scheduled for Monday. The winner travels to Cave Spring on Wednesday night.
“We need to get by Blacksburg,” Burcham noted. “Maybe then, the third time (facing Cave Spring) will be the charm.”
Bill Turner

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