Cougars win thriller, advance to championship

By RODNEY YOUNG

Patriot Publishing

Playing on the second day of the First Community Bank / Fort Chiswell Christmas Tournament the Pulaski County Cougars won a thriller over the host school Fort Chiswell Pioneers, 56-53.

The game was tied at 38 after three quarters. The two teams had exchanged the lead numerous times during that span.

The Cougars would tie the game at 43 on a Tootie O’Dell jumper and went ahead on his and-one free throw, 44-43 with six minutes left. They would then go back ahead and score six consecutive points to put themselves up 50-45 with four minutes left.

The Pioneers would battle back to get within one at 52-51 and the Cougars would turn the ball over on two straight possessions, but Fort Chiswell would miss two shots.

The Cougars then would get to the foul line and senior Chase Lawrence hit both his free throws to make it 54-51 with fifty-five seconds to go.

Fort Chiswell would then miss a shot, but a foul was called on the Cougars, sending Pioneer freshman Owen Jackson to the charity stripe. He would swish both to bring the Pioneers back to within one, 54-53 with 45 seconds on the clock.

Pulaski County (3-7) would get fouled running the clock down to 28 seconds showing. Jalere Harlow would hit one of two and Fort Chiswell would come down and miss a three pointer.

Once again the Cougars tried to run clock, but Tootie O’Dell would be fouled with 11 seconds left. He hit one of two to go up 56-53. The Pioneers’ Jackson would attempt a three point shot that hit the rim and bounced off as the horn sounded .

In a happy locker room head coach Anthony Akers said, “The guys battled today. We stressed composure and that it would win the game and it did. Proud of the team and the energy was the highest it’s been all year. This was a total team effort.” He then stated, “Fort Chiswell is an extremely well coached ball team.”

The win puts the Cougars into the championship game against a familiar foe in Carroll County – a team that has beaten the Cougars twice this season. The championship will be played Monday night.

The Cougars got 15 points from O’Dell, 13 from Harlow and 11 from Chandler Hollins. The Cougars hit just 13 of 26 free throws.

Fort Chiswell got a game-high 28 points from freshman Owen Jackson. He had 17 at halftime of the Pioneers’ 21 points. Pioneer big man Brayden Billings chipped in with 15. He scored 10 of those in the fourth quarter.

The JV contest saw the Cougars defeat Fort Chiswell junior varsity 53-29 and the win sent them into the championship as well. They also will face off against Carroll County Monday afternoon.

PC –   12   13   13   18 – 56

FC – 16   5   17   15 – 53

Scoring – PC – O’Dell 15, Harlow 13, Hollins 11, Hash 9, Lawrence 5, Sweet 2, O’Neall 1,

FC – Jackson 28, Billings 15, Ayers 1, Sutphin 3, Armbrister 2, Moore 4

3-Pt. Goals – PC – 11 (Harlow 4, Hash 3, Hollins 3, O’Dell). FC – 1 (Jackson)

Total FG’s – PC – 16, FC – 18

FT’s – PC – 13-26, FC – 16-23

Total Fouls – PC – 20, FC – 19

Fouled Out- None

Technicals – None