After leading by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Cougar varsity had to hang on by their fingernails down the stretch to earn a 59-56 win over visiting McLean County Tuesday night in the Cougar Den.
In the opener, the JV Cougars picked up their first win of the season, 32-28 over McLean.
VARSITY GAME
McLean (7-13) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead following Keenan Smith’s three-pointer at 7:38. The Cougars (9-13) answered with a 17-2 run closing out the period, including 10 straight, and led 17-5 heading into the second quarter.
Two free throws by McLean’s Jacob Clark with 3:36 left in the half cut the lead to six points, 19-13, but the Cougars outscored their opponent 15-9 the rest of the period to regain that 12-point margin, 34-22 as the teams went into halftime.
When Caleb Ray hit two free throws with 4:34 left the Cougars held their largest lead to that point, 13 points at 39-26, but McLean outscored Grayson County 9-4 in the remaining minutes and cut the lead to eight, 43-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cougars then opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run, capped off by two Josh Embry free throws with 5:04 remaining to be played, giving them their largest lead of the night, 14 points at 52-38, and it seemed as though the matter had been settled.
But McLean refused roll over. Smith buried three of his four three-pointers in the game in the fourth period and scored 16 of his game-high 27 points to spearhead a comeback. A Smith lay-in with 1:39 left in the game brought McLean to within a single point, 57-56, but the visitors would not score again.
The Cougars put four players into double figures to offset Smith’s big scoring night. Junior Logan Majors and sophomore Nolan Shartzer both scored 14 points, and Majors led the team with five rebounds. Senior Bailey Logsdon scored 12 points, while sophomore Wyatt Schultz hit three threes and finished with 11 points.
Embry finished with five points, Ray had two and J. J. Tomes added one to complete the scoring.
JV GAME
Grayson County led in the early going, but a 7-0 McLean run saw them take a three-point lead, 13-10 with 3:26 left in the second period. The Cougars then closed out the half with six unanswered points and led by three, 16-13 at the break.
When the Cougars scored the first four points of the third quarter, they had scored 10 straight and led by seven, 20-13. But McLean answered with a 9-2 run that saw the game tied 22-22 with 32 seconds left in the period. Evan Clark then scored on a lay-in with 15 seconds left to give the Cougars the 24-22 lead heading into the final period of play.
McLean scored first in the fourth quarter to tie things 24-24, but the Cougars responded with seven straight to lead 31-24 with 3:28 left to play. The visitors were able to get as close as three points with just over four seconds left, but the Cougars held on for their first victory.
Brett Payton led the Cougars with eight points and he added four rebounds, while D. J. Turner scored six. Clark came off the bench to score five points and he aggressively led the team on the glass with 12 rebounds.
Hunter Saltsman also scored five, while Mason Galloway and Zack Bratcher had three apiece. Miles Hornbeck closed out the scoring with two points.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
Logan Majors drove into the key in the opening period.
Majors had 14 points and five rebounds in the Cougar win.
J. J. Tomes was fouled as he went to the
basket in the first quarter.
