Tuesday night’s season opener for both the Cave Spring and William Byrd basketball teams looked more like a mid-season matchup.
They were running, they were gunning and more often than not, they were hitting.
William Byrd used a 25-point third quarter to take a 57-43 lead into the final 8 minutes, and the Terriers held off the Knights down the stretch to pull out the 77-67 win in front of a packed Terrier gym.
“For an opening game, it was pretty clean,” Byrd head coach Kevin Tuck noted afterward. “In the third quarter we were able to get some buckets in transition, then we got the lead and spread it out. Damon Childress hit some big 3s.and he was feeling it. We decided before the game to tell our guys it’s the first game and not to worry about winning or losing. There’s still a lot of basketball to play”
“William Byrd gets after you on both ends of the court,” Cave Spring first-year head coach Jacob Gruse said inside the Knight locker room. “In the third quarter it came down to them shooting the ball very well and they suddenly were getting the 50/50 balls, plus some of our play aided to their shooting. It was a competitive opener for us. There’s no cupcakes on our schedule.”
Both teams came out on fire in the opening quarter. Cave Spring led 13-5 before the Terriers used two straight baskets from behind the arc to ignite a 14-5 run and 19-18 lead after the first eight minutes. The two teams combined for 8 treys in that span and eventually combined for 14 3-pointers in the game.
The Knights led 24-23 when junior sharpshooter Brody Hicks picked up his second personal foul. With Hicks on the bench, Byrd went on a 7-0 run that sent the Terriers to halftime break holding a 32-29 advantage.
Brody Hicks’ slam early in the third quarter pulled Cave Spring to within 34-33, but Byrd began to sizzle and with Hicks again on the bench with a bloody nose, the Terriers pulled out to a 51-43 lead. Things took a turn for the worse late in the quarter when senior Cager Hicks was whistled for a foul and subsequent technical. Childress made three of four free throws, then connected on a bomb from NBA range at the buzzer that staked the Terriers to a 57-43 advantage heading to the final frame.
Knight senior Zac Foutz, who owned the paint all night on his way to a game-high 33 points, hit two free throws midway through the fourth to get Cave Spring to 63-56, and Brody Hicks’ 3-pointer late in the fourth cut the Terrier lead to 69-63, but Cave Spring would get no closer down the stretch.
“We’d cut it to six or seven, then they’s get it back to 10,” Gruse noted. “We just couldn’t get a big play to get us over the hump.”
Foutz’s stellar play was a bright point for Gruse. “He’s an aggressive kid who works hard on the boards. He’ll be big for us for sure.”
“I was able to post-up, catch and shoot,” Foutz said. “This year, I’ve had more time for preparation after football. Plus, I’m not as banged up as I was last year after football. I played hard for it being the first game.”
Byrd was able to counter Cave Spring with its height. The Terriers have seven players who stand 6-foot-2 or taller.
“This is probably the tallest team in my years of coaching here,” Tuck pointed out..
Childress finished with a team-high 28 points for William Byrd, with senior forward Drew Hayden adding 15. Brody Hicks poured in 17 points for the Knights.
– Bill Turner
