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Photos by JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Blacksburg's Terrence Travis puts up a shot as Josh Henderson defends. Travis had 16 points.

Cave Spring's Josh Henderson had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots in the win over Blacksburg.

BLACKSBURG -- One point about being a defending high school basketball state champion, there's always a new challenge to rise to.

The latest obstacle to a return to postseason glory for Cave Spring's boys was the second rugged River Ridge District road trip in their past three games Wednesday. But the defending VHSL Group AA Division 3 champion Knights met any and all of the spirited challenges mounted by Blacksburg in a 64-49 victory.

"In spurts, I thought that was as well as we've played," Knights coach Billy Hicks said.

The Bruins (9-9, 4-4), who lost 50-43 at Cave Spring on Jan. 15 in a game that was close throughout, looked as though they might be crunched early in this one. After falling behind by 13 points in the first half, the Bruins played better defense and got back into it in the third quarter. Twice they had the deficit down to seven points in the second half, the last time when Destiny Etuck swooped in a layup to make it 56-49 with 2:01 left in the game.

"Then we just couldn't knock down a couple of shots there at the end," Blacksburg coach Doug Day said.

Clay Lacy drilled a pair of foul shots then came back on the next possession with a drive off an assist from center Josh Henderson as Cave Spring (15-3, 7-1) closed the game on a 6-0 run.

Henderson and Lacy were poison for Blacksburg. Henderson scored a game-high 28 points to go with eight rebounds and seven blocked shots. Lacy's contributions included 20 points, 5-for-6 free throw shooting and nine more rebounds.

Yet Hicks hastened to point out the impact of a couple of guys who combined for four points.

"The key," said Hicks, nodding in the direction of guards Quinton Dill and Mark Overstreet, "was these guys driving. I told them I'm glad they had their license to drive back. The dribble-drive penetration was the missing part of our offense and I think we got that back tonight."

To hear Overstreet tell it, it wasn't exactly a spontaneous return to form.

"Well, for me in particular, Coach came to me the other day and told me, 'Either you're going to drive or you're going to sit pretty much,' " Overstreet said. "So he put the pressure down. He told me that had been the best part of my offense in the past and I had to get back to that."

The results were impressive. If Henderson wasn't popping open for a dunk or a short turnaround, Lacy was slashing to the cup to take the open pass. The other options included kick-outs for open jumpers on the wing. Adam Hager and Justin White each buried a couple of 3-pointers in such situations. Cave Spring had five in all.

"This team always does a great job of looking for each other and playing inside out," Henderson said.

Terrence Travis paced the Bruins' attack with 16 points, nine of that coming on three of his team's 3-pointers. Joe Brown chipped in 11 points.

"The thing about our team is it's always going to keep fighting and never give up," Day said. "That's what I like about this group."

CAVE SPRING (15-3, 7-1)

Dill 1 0-0 2, Overstreet 0 2-2 2, Hager 2 0-0 6, Lacy 7 5-6 20, Henderson 13 2-5 28, White 2 0-0 6, Jacobson 0 0-2 0. Totals: 25 9-15 64.

BLACKSBURG (9-9, 4-4)

Smith 2 0-0 4, Sowers 0 0-0 0, Travis 6 1-2 16, Jones 3 0-0 7, Brown 5 1-2 11, Walker 1 0-0 3, Cooper 0 1-2 1, Etuck 3 0-0 7. Totals: 20 3-6 49.

Cave Spring 11 15 16 22--64

Blacksburg 8 8 18 15--49

3-point goals -- Cave Spring 5 (White 2, Hager 2, Lacy), Blacksburg 6 (Travis 3, Walker, Etuck, Jones). Total fouls -- Cave Spring 8, Blacksburg 14. JV score -- Blacksburg, 51-41.