Behind some red-hot shooting, especially in the first half, the visiting senior-laden Apollo Eagles handed the Cougar varsity a 65-54 defeat Saturday evening in the Cougar Den.
The Eagles put three players into double-figure scoring, led by senior guard Alex Gray, who finished with 20 points including four three-pointers. Senior Hayden Shelton scored 11 points, while senior Angel Saldana added 10.
Grayson County also had three players reach double figures, led by senior Bailey Logsdon. He led all scorers with 26 points, and made it a double-double night by pulling down 11 rebounds. Juniors Caleb Ray and Logan Majors both scored 10 points for the Cougars.
Apollo jumped out to an early lead by scoring the first five points of the game. A Ray put-back-basket at the 3:39 mark saw the Cougars trailing by just two points, 9-7, but the Eagles closed out the period on an 11-2 run and held an 11-point lead, 20-9 heading into the second quarter.
When the Eagles’ Zach Greer scored on a rebound basket with 2:23 left in the first half, the Eagles held their largest lead of the night, 19 points at 38-19. The Cougars trailed by 16 points, 42-26 at the half.
Grayson County still trailed by 17 points with five minutes left in the third quarter, but a 9-2 run closing out the period pulled them back to within 10 points of the lead, 52-42 at the start of the fourth quarter.
When Logsdon opened the final period of play with a pair of free throws, the Cougars trailed by just eight, 52-44, and the Cougar fans began thinking of a big comeback.
But it was not to be. The Eagles responded with an 8-2 run to push the lead back up to 14 points and the Cougars were never closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Josh Embry added six points for the Cougars, while Cameron Wells chipped in two to complete the Cougar scoring. Nolan Shartzer did not score in the game, but he grabbed six rebounds. In addition to his 10 points, Majors pulled down five boards.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
Junior Caleb Ray hit a pair of three-pointers
and finished with 10 points.
Bailey Logsdon had a double-double
night with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Josh Embry took the ball to the hoop
against Apollo’s Alex Gray.
