Cave Spring looked like it had found the winning separation over Lord Botetourt with three minutes left in Tuesday night’s game in the Knight gym. After a seesaw game through much of the fourth quarter, the Knights had a three point lead and the ball.
But, Cave Spring couldn’t find the basket down the stretch, and with the aid of a pair of Cave Spring turnovers, Lord Botetourt came away with a hard fought 61-59 non-district win to improve to 6-2 on the season. Cave Spring dropped to 4-2 with AAA opponent William Fleming set to invade the Cave Spring gym tonight (Thurs. Dec. 20th).
“We didn’t take care of the ball down the stretch,” Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks noted. “It’s been a problem all year at crunch time. We had the lead, the ball and two timeouts. We didn’t need to force things at that point.”
Lord Botetourt led by one at the half and by the same margin after three quarters.
Leading the Cavaliers all night was Justin Goode, whose offensive proficiency led to a game-high 30 points. Dustin Hassell added 13 points for Botetourt.
Cave Spring was without floor leader and leading scorer Terrell Simmons, who stayed on the Knight bench with an ankle injury suffered in last week’s win over Northside.
Junior Ben Lacy led the Cave Spring scoring with 18 points, while Victor Duval chipped in 11. Botetourt outscored the Knights 12-4 on the free throw line.
“The kids kept plugging away,” Cavalier head coach Chad Conner noted afterward. “We made some big shots and had some big rebounds. We’re 6-2, and I like the direction we’re going.”
BILL TURNER game story/photos
