The 3-point arc sits 19′ 9″ from the basket in high school basketball.
Thursday night in the Northside gym, Cave Spring didn’t need to venture that far out. Most of their baskets came from within five feet.
Using its superior height advantage to the fullest, the Knights continually pounded the ball to the inside, running away with the 62-43 win over the Vikings in non-district action.
“Our main focus was to pound the post,” Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks noted after the game. “We hurt them inside the first time we played (a 68-56 Cave Spring win in December), but we knew they had some football players back.”
The Knights went inside for their first four scores, but Northside kept pace at their end, tying the game at 8 midway through the opening quarter. When the Vikings packed the paint on Cave Spring’s next possession, Knight Brody Hicks buried a 3-pointer, and the Knights never trailed the rest of the night.
Cave Spring led 15-10 after one quarter and its lead reached double digits when junior Zac Foutz scored on a putback in the paint and was fouled, converting the old-fashioned 3-pointer midway in the second. That gave the Knights a 22-12 lead that, despite a late Northside surge, sent Cave Spring to the break up 31-22.
“If Northside laid back, we wanted to work our inside-outside game,” Hicks added. “We were strong at both tonight, so the key is to find the balance.” Cave Spring netted four baskets from behind the arc in the game.
The Vikings gave away an opportunity to get things closer when they missed 3-of-4 free throws in the first minute of the third quarter, and Cave Springs kept going to the paint. With Northside looking to 3-pointers to play catchup and Cave Spring gathering most rebounds, the Knights gradually pulled out to a comfortable 50-29 lead after three quarters. Northside hit only 27% of its field goal attempts and was 4-for-10 from the charity stripe in the contest.
Cave Spring’s advantage reached 22 points at 60-38 before the substitutes of both squads dominated the action down the stretch.
“They did a good job of making the extra pass and getting down low,” Viking head coach Billy Pope said. “We let them get behind us and that led to easy shots. We need to do a better job of staying between the player we’re guarding and the basket. I’m proud that we battled hard. We just need to keep working hard and pay attention to details. It was one of those nights where we didn’t shoot well and didn’t hit our free throws.”
Junior Cager Hicks led the Cave Spring scoring with 17 points, while his sophomore brother Brody Hicks followed with 16. Knight big man Adam Sledd poured in 12 points for the Knights.
Senior guard Daniel Palmieri paced the Viking attack with 12 points, as Carlos Basham added 10 and Daniel Brammer chipped in 10 points for Northside.
– Bill Turner