Cougars lose a wild one to Carroll County
By RODNEY YOUNG
The Patriot
The Pulaski County Cougar boys played the Carroll County Cavaliers for fifth place in the First Community Bank Tournament at Fort Chiswell High School, and the Cougars lost 63-48.
The game got a little wild late in the fourth quarter.
Pulaski County found themselves down four with just over four minutes to go in the game. They had the ball and there was a referee’s whistle and the Cougars were called for a violation. The violation involved one of the Cougars being forced out of bounds.
Carroll County would then score a bucket and foul shot and their lead was up to seven.
Pulaski County then was called for another turnover and Carroll County would be fouled. The Cavs converted the shots and the lead was now nine points.
While the Cavalier was sent to the line, the Cougar bench was called for a technical. The Cavaliers’ lead grew to 11 points and they had the ball.
Carroll would then score again to go up by 13 with less than a couple minutes to play.
A Pulaski County player would then be called for a technical after a foul was called on them. The officials sent the wrong player to the foul line and he hit both shots. Then the same player was going to shoot the technical, but the Cougar coaching staff told the official they had sent the wrong player to the free throw line. After a meeting of the three officials, it was determined the Cougar head coach was correct and the points were taken off and the right player was sent to the line.
By the time all the free throws were hit, the Cavaliers lead had ballooned to 17, 61-44.
So, the Cougars had been down 47-44 with 2:50 left, to being down 61-44 with 1:15 to go.
The game saw the Cavaliers shoot 28 free throws to the Cougars’ eight. The Cougars had 21 fouls called on them to the Cavaliers’ 10. The last 12 points for Carroll County (7-1) all came from the free throw line.
They got 25 points from 6-4 senior center Elijah Cox. He was 11 of 16 from the charity stripe. Bryce Smoot had 14 points and Davis Reitzel chipped in with 10. Sixteen of Carroll County’s 38 second half points were from the free throw line.
The Cougars (1-8) got 15 points from Lane Nester, and 11 from Kyle O’Neal. Jele Green contributed eight points.
“I think we got better the last three days here in this tournament,” said Coach Tyler Cannoy. “This what 15 point loss, doesn’t tell the story of how close this game was. My guys played hard and I’m proud of them. I haven’t heard of this violation and my staff and scorekeeper hadn’t heard of this either. Four-point game and all of a sudden you look up and its a 15-17 point game!”
In good news the Cougar Junior Varsity won the JV championship 66-38 over Carroll County. It’s the Cougars’ back-to-back JV championship in the First Community Bank Tournament.
Justus Hash scored a game-high 20 points, as he hit four three’s all in the second half.
The Cougars were up 32-27 at intermission, but would outscore the Cavaliers 34-9 in the second half.
Jalere Harlow scored 13, while Braxton Merchant scored six. Johnny Anderson had six points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Aden Drummond chipped in with five points.
Carroll got 13 points from Isaiah Easter and eight from Jay Burnette.
The Cougar JV now has a record of 7-2.
The JV and Varsity will be back in action Tuesday againt Hidden Valley. It will be only the second home game of the season in their 10th game overall for the road warrior Cougars. Tip for the JV game is 5:30 with the varsity starting around 7 pm.
PC – 17 – 6 – 11 – 14 = 48
CC – 9 – 16 – 17 -21 = 63
Scoring – PC – O’Dell 4, Green 8, Horton 4, O’Neal 11, Nester 15, Reed 6, CC – Reitzel 10, Cox 25, Richardson 9, Talley 3, Bra. Smoot 2, Bry. Smoot 14
Total FG’s – PC – 18, CC – 19
3-PT. Goals – PC – 6 (O’Neal 3, Nester 3), CC – 5 (Cox 2, Bry. Smoot, Richardson, Talley)
FT’s – PC – 6 of 8, CC – 20-28
Total Fouls – PC – 21, CC – 10
Fouled Out – None
Technical – PC – Coach Cannoy, Horton