Fourth quarter woes doom Cougars again
By RODNEY YOUNG
Patriot Publishing
Playing in the Class 3 Region D playoffs the Pulaski County Cougars traveled to Dry Fork, Virginia to take on the Tunstall Trojans.
The fourth quarter woes that have hampered the Cougars for much of the season reared their ugly heads one more time as they lost to Tunstall 74-63.
Pulaski County was up 58-51 with six minutes left in the game, but they would then go four minutes and thirty-three seconds without a point.
They would then hit a free throw with 1:27 left, but by then the scoreboard read Tunstall 66, Pulaski County 58.
Tunstall went on a 15-0 run as the Cougars missed shots and turned the ball over time and time again. Timeouts to calm them down didn’t help. Shots that were falling earlier in the game wouldn’t fall. The Cougars had 24 turnovers for the game with 14 of those happening in the second half and most of those occurred in the fourth quarter.
Tunstall (8-16) was led by 6-5 Carter Higdon with 25 points. Corey Zelinski tossed in 17 and Graham Haskins chipped in with nine points .
The Cougars got 17 points from senior Chandler Hollins, 12 from senior Will O’Neal and nine from senior Chase Lawrence.
In a very subdued locker room after the game, head coach Anthony Akers remarked, “I’m proud of you all. I love all of you. To go through what we have had to go through the last month or so and come here, battle, fight, compete and play so hard, proud of the effort.”
He then said, “We lost our top three scorers but other players stepped up. The last month or more showed a lot of character. Most teams losing their top three scorers by way of injuries and suspensions would have quit, but this group didn’t.”
The Cougars were down 13-11 after the opening quarter, but took a 36-33 advantage into intermission. The third quarter saw them getting their biggest lead of the game as they went up 54-42 with two minutes to go in the quarter. However, they got outscored 6-0 in the last two minutes of the third, but were still up 54-48 going into that fourth quarter.
The Cougars’ season came to an end the way most of their games this season ended. Their fourth quarter woes of missed shots and not protecting the ball proved costly. They lost 11 games this season by single digits. Their final record is 5-18. The long, frustrating season is over. They say goodbye to five seniors.
Pul.Co. – 11 25 18 9-63
Tunstall – 13 20 15 26- 74
Scoring – PC – Hollins 17, O’Neal 12, Lawrence 9, Merchant 8, Turner 8, Blevins 8, Carrasco 1, Tunstall – Higdon 25, Zelenski 17, Haskins 9, Yeatts 6, Howell 4, Pritchett 4, Martin 3, Christian 3, Fowlkes 3
3-Pt. Goals – PC – 11 (Hollins 5, Blevins 2, O’Neal 2, Merchant, Turner), Tunstall- 5 (Haskins 2, Martin, Zelinski, Christian)
Total FG’s – PC – 21, Tunstall -28
FT’s – PC – 13-20, Tunstall -10-14
Total Fouls – PC – 20, Tunstall -21
Fouled Out- PC – O’Neal
Technicals – Tunstall – Martin