Size and depth working to Cave Spring’s advantage

‘Comfort is the enemy of progress’

ROANOKE, Va. – The boys side of Region 3D basketball is stacked full of talent and premiere programs, including 2020 VHSL State Champion Cave Spring, who has another star-studded cast of playmakers.

Cave Spring boasts size and length at all spots on the floor.

“I don’t think we’re huge at any spot but I think we’re big at every spot,” said head coach Jacob Gruse. “Using our length can help us out with the lack of quickness or bad rotation on defense by having the extra length can pose a lot of problems.”

Both Stark Jones and Owyn Dawyot stand at 6-foot-3 as guards and the other starting 5 stands at 6-foot-5, 6-foot-8 and 6-foot.

The Knights are also a team that offers depth, which helped the team sweep the River Ridge District titles. Gruse says his season-long message has been redundant but effective.

“One of the quotes we go by is ‘comfort is the enemy of progress’, we stole it from the LSU coach head basketball coach, we saw it on Twitter And it’s kind of what we live by and I promise my guys are sick and tired and are nauseated of me saying it so much. But we tell them don’t listen to the noise when everyone tells you how great you are. Don’t listen to the noise if people say you had a bad game. Be like a horse with blinders on--continue to move forward and have that tunnel vision, continue to look forward.”

Cave Spring opened up Region 3D quarterfinals action Tuesday night with a 64-43 win over William Byrd, holding the Terriers scoreless in the 4th quarter.


About the Authors:

Eric is no stranger to the Roanoke Valley. He is a Roanoke native and proud graduate of William Fleming High School.

John serves as the Sports Director at WSLS 10. From Virginia Tech, to NASCAR and everything in between, WSLS 10 Sports covers the names making big plays in the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB.