Cougars pull away late for home win over Titans
By RODNEY YOUNG
The Patriot
The Pulaski County Cougar boys basketball team scored the last six points of the game to pull out a 70-64 victory Tuesday over the Hidden Valley Titans. It was the Cougars’ first River Ridge District win of the season.
This was also the Cougars’ first home game since December 10 and only their second home game at the mid-point of the season.
Tied at 64 all with 1:45 remaining in the game, Jele Green hit one of two foul shots and Lane Nester hit a huge jumper to put the Cougars up, 67-64 with a minute to go.
Chandler Hollins hit one of two foul shots and then Tootie O’Dell hit two freebies with five seconds left to pull out the win.
Those were the only two points scored by O’Dell, but he ran and helped control the game from his point guard position.
Nester scored a game-high 19 points, Kyle O’Neal had 18 and Jele Green chipped in with a double-double scoring 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.
Hidden Valley guard Gavin Lott had 17 points and fellow guard Tyus Johnson added16 in the loss. Both of them seemed to score at will and got any shot they wanted for most of the game.
The Cougars jumped out to a 19-13 first quarter lead and had a 32-27 advantage going into intermission.
The Titans would then outscore the Cougars 25-21 in the high scoring third period and they would be down by only one, 53-52 going into the last stanza.
The two teams would exchange the lead five times in the fourth quarter and Hidden Valley would be up 62-61 when Cougar senior guard Khalib Horton hit a big three-pointer from the top of the key with 3:15 left in the game.
“We have gotten better with our full roster,” said Cougar head coach Tyler Cannoy. “We played well at times tonight and not so well at other times. (Jele) Green had a double-double and our other big, Marcus Redd scored two points and grabbed four boards. That’s what … 17 points and 15 rebounds from the two big guys. When they score and rebound it takes pressure off of our guards. Our defense has got to get better though.”
Eight of the 10 players dressed for the Cougars got into the scoring column. The two players that had been hurt – Nester and Horton – scored 28 points tonight as they are back to around 90 percent playing shape.
The game saw 31 fouls and 46 foul shots.
PC – 19 – 13 – 21 – 17 = 70
HV – 13 -14 – 25 – 12 = 64
Scoring – PC – Nester 19, Green 15, O’Neal 18, Horton 9, Hollins 1, O’Dell 2, Reed 2,Burchett 4, HV – Johnson 16, Iott 17, Bartlett 9, Philips 8, Torrence 5, Nichols 6, Harman 3
3-PT. Goals – PC – 8 ( OI’Neal 4, Nester 3, Horton ) , HV – 9 ( Bartlett 3, Philips 2, Iott 2, Nichols, Torrence)
Total FG’s – PC – 22 , HV – 20
FT’s – PC – 18-26, HV – 15-20
Fouls- PC – 14 , HV – 17
Fouled Out – HV – Bartlett
Technicals – None