Cougars shake off first half woes, defeat the Maroon Tide
By RODNEY YOUNG
Patriot Publishing
Playing Saturday in the First Community Bank/ Fort Chiswell Christmas Tournament the Cougars were a little sluggish in the first half, but would outscore Galax 32-20 in the second half enroute to a 65-46 victory.
The Cougars opened the first quarter scoring 18 points to lead 18-10. They took a 33-26 advantage into intermission, but they were out of sync for part of the first half as they committed nine turnovers and missed some easy shots.
Jalere Harlow led the Cougars with a game-high 24 points. Braxton Merchant continued his good play as he tossed in 18, while Silas Sweet came off the bench to toss in 10 points.
Galax’s Sean Lundy led the Maroon Tide with 11 and Ethan Bagley had nine.
Pulaski County (3-4) would turn up their defensive pressure in the third quarter as Merchant scored seven points and Harlow four in the third quarter. They would then hold Galax to just six points in the fourth, with Harlow scoring seven in the period.
“We had some of what I called Christmas woes in the first half. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but it is a win,” said Cougar head coach Anthony Akers. He then said, “It was a workman-like game and I think Bryant Nottingham came in there in the third and fourth quarters and gave us a spark. I saw some good things, but we need to be more consistent.”
The Cougar JV saw their record improve to (5-2) as they demolished the young Maroon Tide 66-11. Keilan Vaughan scored 13, Ade Jackson 12 and Justin Stith chipped in with 10 points.
In other first round varsity games, the Radford Bobcats (3-1) declawed the Bland County Bears 88-15. Radford was led by Blake Farmer’s 23 points. Gavin Lance scored nine points in the losing effort for the Bears.
The host Pioneers of Fort Chiswell in a wild contest came from behind to beat the East Wilkes (NC) Cardinals 78-62. The Pioneers were down 12 points in the first half but fought their way to within one at 33-32 at intermission. The second half saw the East Wilkes team called for not one, not two, but six big technicals. Their head coach would be ejected in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals got 15 points from Brook Henderson and 11 from Carter Pardue. While the Pioneers of Fort Chiswell had a game-high 34 points, 15 rebounds from Owen Jackson. Kenton Sutphin tossed in 16 points. Fort Chiswell (4-3) shot 64 free throws and made 32 of them, as East Wilkes shot 20 free throws and made 14. A total of 78 free throws were shot combined by the two teams in a very physical contest.
The nightcap of the first round saw the Narrows Green Wave out battle the Carroll County Cavaliers 69-65. The game saw the two teams exchange the lead five times mainly in the second half. Narrows (4-2) jumped out to a 19-6 lead only to see the Cavaliers cut that to just three points at intermission. The two teams would then exchange the lead in the third and fourth quarters. The Green Wave would get a huge bucket from Braxton Hoke in the last minute to retake the lead for the final time. Sam McGlothlin scored game-high 26 points for Narrows. He got help from Elijah Knoetze with 14, Hayden Farrell with 13, and Hoke finished with 10 points.
“I’m so proud of (Braxton) Hoke,” said Green Wave head coach Patrick Bailey. “He played very little last season. He made a huge bucket for us. We battled and this was a tight game and for him to come through like he did was big.”
Carroll County got 25 points from Isaiah Easter, 17 by Colton Gravely and freshman Will Motley tossed in 15. Carroll County head coach Anthony Barnes in a dejected locker room said, “We had zero energy and effort to start the game, and for the first half.” He then remarked, “We are nowhere near where we need to be. We struggled shooting and making shots. We had 10 turnovers and gave up 10 offensive rebounds that accounted for 10 points.”
Pulaski County will now take on Fort Chiswell on Monday at 7:00 pm and the Cougar JV will play at 1:30 against East Wilkes (NC) Monday.
PC 18 15 17 15-65
Galax 10 16 14 6- 46
Scoring- PC – Harlow 24, Merchant 18, Sweet 10, Blevins 5, Bolden 4, Nottingham 2, Sartin 2, Galax- Lundy 11, Bagley 9, King 8, Hicks 7, Jones 6, Simon 3, Wilson 2
3-PT. Goals – PC – 7 ( Harlow 4, Sweet, Merchant, Blevins), Galax – 1 ( Simon)
Total FG’s – PC – 26, Galax- 18
FT’s -PC – 6 of 11, Galax – 9 of 15
Total Fouls – PC – 14, Galax – 14
Fouled Out- None
Technicals-None