Tuesday night’s temperatures in the mid-20s were conducive for a pot of stew.
Inside the Cave Spring gym, the Knights boys basketball team definitely had the pressure cooker on high.
Riding a swarming full-court press to start a second quarter that played havoc with the Christiansburg offense, Cave Spring outscored the Blue Demons 29-12 in the frame on their way to the 88-52 River Ridge win.
The Knights held a slim 16-13 lead after one quarter, but the Cave Spring defense forced numerous Blue Demon turnovers and opened the gate for the high octane Knight offense. That sent Cave Spring to the break up 45-25, and the Knights never looked back.
“They lulled us to sleep in the first quarter,” Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse noted in the Knights’ locker room afterward. “Our press caused them problems to start the second and we ramped it up. We started sharing the basketball and that gave us energy on defense.”
The Knights pushed their lead to 64-41 after three quarters and used a combination of driving fast breaks along with efficiency from behind-the-arc to pull away. Cave Spring finished with seven 3-pointers, coming from five different players, and twelve Knights dented the scoring column.
“Cave Spring has a lot of guys who can shoot,” Christiansburg head coach Shawn Good said. “It didn’t help that we had 30 turnovers. We’ve had teams press us and it didn’t bother us. It’s a different atmosphere on the road. Tonight we started three juniors and a sophomore, so we’re still a work in progress.”
A milestone was reached by Cave Spring senior Brody Hicks midway through the fourth quarter when his breakaway slam dunk pushed his career point total to 1,000.
The game was stopped and Hicks was presented the game ball by Gruse.
Hicks becomes the 5th player in Cave Spring history to reach the 1,000 point plateau, joining J.J. Redick, Matt Matheney, Billy Alvarez and Josh Henderson.
“We were cognizant of the record,” Brody Hicks said after the game. “Cager (Brody’s older brother who finished his Cave Spring career last year) wanted to see me get the 1,000 before he returned to South Carolina. The reactions of my teammates was what made it big for me. Paxton ((Daniels), Mason (Reyer) and Devin (Beckner) were pushing the ball up court all night. I got open look after open look.”
Cave Spring was led by Hicks’ 24 points, while Jake Furrow added 18 and Reyer knocked down 13 points for the Knights.
Alec Anderson was the sole Christiansburg player in double figures, canning 11 for the Blue Demons.
Bill Turner