The Cave Spring boys basketball team had a devil of a time Tuesday night in the Knight gym against visiting Rustburg.
It was the Knights, however, that came away holding the pitchfork.
Keeping the hot-shooting Red Devils at bay in key moments of the second half, Cave Spring outlasted Rustburg 53-49 in the 3A West Region quarterfinal, advancing to a matchup against Spotswood Thursday night at 7:30 in the Cave Spring gym.
The Knights bent, but never broke, as several Rustburg runs were countered by clutch baskets by the explosive Cave Spring lineup.
None was more consequential than the shooting of senior Mason Reyer, who on three occasions hit shots that either restored a Cave Spring lead or pushed the Knight advantage to two possessions.
“i didn’t even realize it,” Reyer said of his clutch baskets on a night that he was held to 12 points. “Rustburg is a very good team. We went cold to start the third quarter and their 1-3-1 defense added to the pressure. We finally started to move the ball around and we were OK.”
Cave Spring came out of the gate smoking, as Paxton Daniels, Reyer and Jake Furrow all hit 3-pointers to put the Knights up 9-0. Rustburg answered when Conference 30 player of the year Mike Jones scored the first 8 Red Devil points before Knight Zach Shannon’s tip-in at the buzzer had Cave Spring up 17-11 after one quarter.
The Knights’ lead reached double digits in the second quarter before Rustburg closed to 30-23 heading to the break.
Cave Spring suddenly went cold to start the second half, and when Joe Daniel hit one-of-two free throws with 1:35 left in the third quarter, Rustburg had tied things at 32. Reyer responded with a basket to restore the Knight lead and Brody Hicks, who finished with a team-high 19 points for Cave Spring, followed with a pair of free throws that put the Knights up 36-32 heading to the final 8 minutes,
Daniel hit from long range to get Rustburg to within one possession at 38-35, but Reyer answered with a bomb of his own to put Cave Spring up 41-35.
Jones, who finished with a game-high 28 points, buried a trey to close the Red Devil deficit to 41-38, but Reyer again rose to the occasion with a steal and breakaway layup with 3:51 left to put the Knights up 43-38.
Hicks followedwith a steal and rattling flush that made it 45-38, and Rustburg couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way until Jones hit a trey right before the final buzzer that settled the 53-49 margin.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Rustburg head coach Brantley Shields said inside the Red Devil locker room. “The end of the third quarter was the turning point of the game. We came back to tie it at 32, then Cave Spring made a couple plays and we didn’t have the energy to finish it up. We made some adjustments and matched up to slow it down to get back in the game, but in the fourth quarter they started holding the ball and we couldn’t get the ball to fall on our shots.”
“In the fourth quarter, we started taking better shots,” Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse noted. “We had been taking good shots, but not great shots. When they didn’t fall in the third quarter, we weren’t in rebounding position, and that gave them their run.”
Gruse was quick to acknowledge Reyer’s clutch play.
“Mason’s our X-Factor,” the head coach pointed out. “He compliments everyone on this team. And, Brody Hicks had a big game as well. I thought we played good defense all night. It’s a win and we move on.”
“Their defense definitely gave us problems,” Rustburg’s Jones said. “I was just trying to get us a win.”
Shannon added 10 points for the Cave Spring offense. Hicks was clutch from the charity stripe, hitting 8-of-9.
Bill Turner
