The seventh-grade Cougar basketball team earned a trip to the championship round of the Green River Valley Conference Monday night in Morgantown with a rousing, 49-43, semifinal round victory over the Ohio County Eagles.
Though this was a total team effort by the Cougars, Nolan Hornbeck had a huge game for Grayson County, scoring a game-high 21 points and pulling down eight rebounds. River Blanton also had some big plays for the Cougars as he finished with nine points and seven boards.
The young Cougars had earned their way to the semifinals by defeating the host Butler County Bears 50-32 on Saturday. Hornbeck had 18 points to lead all scorers in that game.
With the win, the Cougars (20-2) will face the Hancock County Hornets on Monday, Feb. 5 in Morgantown. The two teams split their encounters this season with each team picking up a win on the other’s home floor.
The Cougars got off to a terrible start. Of their first five possessions, they turned the ball over three times and missed three shots. That allowed the Eagles to soar out to an 11-2 lead at the 3:45 mark and forced coach Kevin Johnston to call a timeout to right the ship.
His words must have penetrated because the Cougars came out blazing afterward. They closed out the first period with 11 unanswered points to lead 13-11 heading into the second quarter. When they opened the second with eight straight, they had scored 19 points in a row and had seized control of the game.
But the Eagles weren’t quite ready to concede, though, and they closed out the first half on an 8-2 run and trailed by just four points, 23-19.
The Cougars were able to expand their lead in the third quarter. A Blanton lay-in at 2:24 gave the Cougars a 10-point advantage, 33-23. When Hornbeck scored with under a minute to play in the period, the lead had grown to 13 points, 38-25, which is how the period ended.
When Brayden Renfrow scored with 4:30 left in the final period, it capped a 9-0 run to give the Cougars their largest lead of the evening, 17 points at 42-25.
To their credit, the Eagles still refused to quit and outscored the Cougars down the stretch 18-7 for the final six-point margin. The Cougars had chance after chance to ice the game at the free throw line in the game’s final two minutes, but they went cold. They hit just 3-of-13 at the line, including the front ends of three bonus opportunities, or the score would have been much more lopsided.
Ironically, the Eagles outshot the Cougars from the three-point line 6-0, but the inside game was dominated by the Cougars.
Brayden Childress is another Cougars who gave a fine effort. He scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and added two steals and two assists, all while running the offense masterfully from the point. Renfrow contributed a good, all-around game with six points, two boards, two assists and a team-high three steals.
Jerron Salazar came off the bench to score two points and grab four rebounds. Dillon Horn also had two points, and Michael Wood had one to round out the scoring.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com.
Brayden Childress scored on this runner
in the first quarter.
Nolan Hornbeck battled a pair of Ohio defenders
as he scored two of his game-high 21 points.
Believe it or not, the diminutive Brayden
Renfrow was able to score over his much
bigger Ohio County defender on this play.
Dillon Horn made a strong move to the basket in the first half.
