The middle school Cougars traveled to Glasgow on Thursday and split a pair of basketball games with the Scotties.
The seventh-graders put three players into double figures, but lost to the Scotties by two, 39-37. The eighth-graders had no double-digit scorers, but put nine players into the scoring column and held the Scotties scoreless in the fourth quarter to win easily, 41-18.
EIGHTH-GRADE GAME
The Scotties scored the game’s first five points, but the Cougars trailed by just one, 8-7 as the teams headed into the second period.
A Jerron Salazar lay-up at the 5:40 mark gave the Cougars their first lead of the night, 9-8. The Scotties answered with a three of their own to go back on top 11-9 with 5:21 left in the first half.
But when Salazar banked a three pointer from the right corner, the Cougars went back on top 12-11, and they would never trail again. The Cougars closed out the period with 12 unanswered points and led by 10 points, 21-11 at the half.
Grayson County extended their lead to 11 points, 29-18 at the end of the third quarter, then outscored the Scotties 12-0 in the final period of play to win going away.
Michael Wood had another fine game starting in place of the injured River Blanton, finishing with a team-high eight points, three rebounds and three steals.
Nolan Hornbeck would have scored in double figures if not for those pesky lay-ups. Instead, he finished with six points and five rebounds. Dillon Horn and Camden Brothers both scored five points, and Horn led the Cougars on the boards with eight rebounds.
Brayden Childress scored four points, while Brayden Renfrow, Lucas Pierce and Tayden Logsdon all scored two points to round out the scoring.
SEVENTH-GRADE GAME
Most times when a team puts three players into double-figures, chances are good they will win that game. The Cougars got 14 points and seven rebounds from Isaiah Poteet, 12 points from Mason Cariel, and 11 points from Tayden Logsdon, but they got no points from anyone else.
In contrast, the Scotties put two players into double figures, but got scoring from four other players.
The Cougars trailed 7-3 after the first period, but outscored the Scotties 9-8 in the second period to trail by just three, 15-12 at the half.
The Scotties opened the third quarter by hitting a three-pointer to give them their largest lead of the night, six points at 18-12. Grayson County responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead, 21-18 with 1:29 left. They led by one, 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
When the Scotties opened the final period with a 7-1 run, they went ahead 27-22 with 4:20 left to play and they would never trail again. The Cougars pulled to within a point of the lead twice in the closing minutes, but could get no closer.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
