Paul Newman was famous as Cool Hand Luke.
Monday night at the Northside gym, Lord Botetourt had Cood Hand Goode and Cool Hand Hassell in starring roles.
The pair teamed with fellow-senior Thomas Hickman for 14 straight free throws in the final 2:02, as the Cavaliers held off William Byrd 81-75 in the championship game of the Northside Invitational holiday tournament.
“It’s been a trait of this team for two years,” Botetourt head coach Chad Conner noted afterward of the free throw efficiency, after accepting the NIT championship trophy. “They work at it. But, it’s not like shooting in a gym or by yourself. This was a game situation in a tournament championship game.”
Byrd came out flat to open the game and the undefeated Cavs took advantage, scoring the first 8 points.
“We weren’t focused,” Byrd guard Marvey’o Otey said. “Everybody just stood around and watched the ball. When you’ve only got one person boxing out, they’re going to get the rebound and stick it back.” Otey had a game-high 28 points for the Terriers.
Botetourt led 36-25 at the halftime break and seemed ready to put things on cruise control when their lead mushroomed to 17 midway through the fourth quarter.
But Byrd, who scored 35 points in the fourth quarter and cut the Cavalier lead to four points down the stretch, was forced to foul a Botetourt team that rarely misses from the charity stripe.
Terrier head coach Kevin Tuck admitted the comeback effort was great, but hoping Botetourt would miss at the free throw line was not the way to overcome the Cavs.
“No chance,” Tuck emphatically said.
After Byrd got to 69-65 with 1:28 left, they had the opportunity to get the game to a one possession game, but missed on two shots. Goode and Hassell found nothing but net on four straight free throws and the Cavs led 73-65 with just under a minute left.
Otey scored 7 points in, the last minute, including a 4-point play with:14.7 left, but Hickman hit two free throws to secure the win.
“I told our guys Byrd would make a run,” Conner said. “We treated it like it was 0-0. Our guys kept their cool. Byrd is a great team so this will boost our confidence.”
‘”We expected a Byrd run,” Goode pointed out. “We work a lot on free throws. We passed the test with this win. This team has all the right pieces to go a long way.”
Dustin Hassell led Botetourt with 19 points while Justin Goode added 17, Ricky Southerland 14 and Nick Webb 12.
Evan Owens had 12 points for the Terriers, while Zac Hill added 11 and Koty Collier chipped in 10.
– Bill Turner