Are the Cave Spring Knights the new Sherwin-Williams poster boys?
Wednesday night at the Cave Spring gym, the Knights had total control within the paint.
Going inside all night long, Cave Spring scored 26 points from point-blank range to topple River Ridge foe Christiansburg 65-44 in the Group 3A Conference 32 semifinal. The Blue Demons had defeated Cave Spring twice during the regular season.
The Knights had three players rise to the occasion after standout Cager Hicks was relegated to the bench in street clothes after a severe ankle injury in the first quarter of the Knight’s regular season finale against Hidden Valley.
Zac Foutz had his fifth double-double in his last six games, including a game high 20 points and 13 boards, Brody Hicks poured in 18 points and brought down 11 rebounds, and sophomore Mason Reyer played the defensive game of his season, holding prolific Blue Demon scorer Matt Herndon to 10 points.
“We emphasized during practice we can’t give up 3s, and we have to get rebounds,” Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks noted after the game. “We decided to go inside-everybody needed to know their role.” Cave Spring won the rebounding battle 42-23.
The Knights scored the game’s first seven points and Christiansburg did not get on the board until the 4:30 mark of the opening quarter. Foutz made the paint his personal playground, especially crucial after Cave Spring big-man Adam Sledd picked up his second personal foul in the final seconds of the first. Cave Spring led 16-4 going to the second frame.
Alex Emery’s two free throws midway through the second put Cave Spring up 29-9, and the Knights led by as many as 22 before going to the break with a 35-17 advantage.
“We didn’t play well offensively in the first half and Foutz hurt us a lot,” Christiansburg head coach Shawn Good noted. “We got killed on the boards and didn’t scramble for loose balls.”
The Blue Demons fought back to start the second half, pulling to within 39-29 midway through the third quarter. Early in the fourth, Kendall Smith’s bomb from behind-the-arc cut the Cave Spring lead to 48-41, but Christiansburg never got closer the rest of the way.
Forced to foul and the Knights in the double-bonus, Cave Spring chose its shots carefully and hit from the charity stripe to pull away. When Foutz’s 20th point staked the Knights to the final margin, both teams emptied their respective benches with 1:18 remaining.
“I handed an index card with the words ” Beast Mode” on it to Zac before the game,” Hicks said. “He answered the call; 20 points, 13 rebounds and a number of second-chance scores.We were limited with Cager out and Adam in foul trouble.”
“I’m glad we fought back,” Good added. “We were down big and you won’t get it back in one shot. We just didn’t get some key stops and rebounds, plus we had 4 or 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter.”
In addition to the production of Foutz and Hicks, Reyer had 9 points with Sledd and Emery each chipping in 8 points for the Knights.
After Herndon’s team-high 10, Charlie Jackson netted 9 and Tanner Cayton scored 8 points for the Blue Demons.
The loss ended the Blue Demon season, while Cave Spring advanced to Friday night’s Conference 32 final at Abingdon.The win Wednesday night assured the Knights of advancing to regional play next week.
Bill Turner
