Cougars battle, but lose on Senior Night

cougars headBy RODNEY YOUNG

Patriot Publishing

Playing on Senior Night in the Cougar Den the Cougars would battle one of the top five teams in Class 3 state rankings in Hidden Valley. The Cougars would come up on the short end of the score, 81-68.

Pulaski County would come out on fire in the Friday night game and  would lead  20-15 after one quarter. They would then go into intermission up 38-35, but would be outscored eight to two in the last couple minutes of the second quarter.

Hidden Valley seemed to get stronger as the game progressed and would outscore the Cougars 22-15 in the third quarter to go up 57-53 heading into the final period.

They would then score 24 points in the last quarter to the Cougars’ 15 to pull out the win. Hidden Valley improved to a very impressive 17-3 and 8-2 in the River Ridge District, as they are still in first place in the district.

Guard Steele Torrence had a game-high 33 points in the victory and his running mate at guard, Wyatt Clarke scored 22. Wynn Womeldorf chipped in with 10.

Cougar head coach Anthony Akers said, “Hidden Valley is a well-coached and well-oiled machine. They passed the ball and looked for each other. Torrence (Steele) is a really good player. They are perhaps the best team we have faced, or as good as any one we have faced.”

Pulaski County (7-12, 3-6) got 18 points from senior Jalere Harlow, 17 by  senior Justus Hash  and Boone Blevins knocked down 10 points off the bench. Senior Silas Sweet chipped in with eight.  The Cougars shot 42 percent from the floor, 39 percent from behind the arc, and got out-rebounded by the taller Titans, 31-25.

Hidden Valley hit 26 of 28 foul shots and outscored the homestanding Cougars by 21 points from the foul line, 26-5. Both teams finished with 25 field goals apiece.

The Cougar junior varsity walloped the young JV Titans 69-39. Braylen Anderson scored 13 points, Malachi French knocked down three three-pointers for nine points. Keilen Vaughan and Ade Jackson both chipped in with eight points apiece. The JV team is now 13-6 on the season.

The Cougars will be back on the road Monday, February 16 as they travel to Patrick Henry. JV starts at 5:30 and varsity tips around 7 pm.

PC – 20  18  15  15 -68

HV – 15  20  22  24- 81

Scoring– PC – Harlow 18, Hash 17, Blevins 13, Sweet 8, Merchant 5, Bolden 3, Carrasco 2, Nottingham 2, HV – Torrence 33, Clarke 22, W. Womeldorf 10, Gattuso 6, James 4, Molina 4, N. Womeldorf 2

3-PT. Goals – PC – 13 ( Hash 5, Blevins 3, Harlow 2, Sweet, Merchant, Bolden), HV – 5 ( Torrence 4, Clarke )

 Total FG’s – PC – 25, HV – 25

FT’s – PC – 5-6, HV – 26-28

Total Fouls – PC – 22, HV – 12

Fouled Out- PC – Sweet

Technicals– None