The Cougar basketball team made its season opener at Apollo Tuesday night a successful one as they defeated the Eagles 66-45. For the Cougars, it was the largest margin of victory in a season-opening game since 2009.
The Cougars put three players into double figures, led by first-year sophomore Q’Daryius McHenry’s 24 points. Senior guard Spencer Sharp scored 21 points and junior Nolan Shartzer added 10. But it was the Cougar defense that was the difference in the game. The defense forced 14 turnovers in the first half, including five steals, a charging call and a five-second call.
It also helped that the Eagles struggled at the foul line while the Cougars shot lights out. The Eagles hit just 12-of-27 at the line for a cold, 44 percent. The Cougars, on the other hand, went to the line 21 times and hit 17 of them for 86 percent.
Apollo led just once in the game. Nathan Mewes hit a three-pointer at the 6:21 mark of the first period to put the Eagles on top 5-4. Sharp answered with a three of his own and the Cougars went in front to stay, 7-5 with 5:45 left in the first period. The Cougars led by six points, 17-11 heading into the second quarter.
Back-to-back baskets by Shartzer and Miles Hornbeck opening the second period gave the Cougars a double-digit lead for the first time, 21-11 at the 6:38 mark. They led by 11 points, 32-21 at the half.
The Eagles closed to within nine points, 34-25 at the 4:18 mark of the third quarter, but the Cougars answered with a 9-1 run to lead by 17 points, 43-26 with 2:18 left in the period. They led by 15 points, 45-30 as the final period of play began.
An 8-0 Grayson County run near the start of the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 24 points, 56-32 with 5:58 left to play. A Shartzer lay-in with 3:11 remaining gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night, 25 points at 61-36 before the Eagles were able to shave four points off the final margin of victory.
In addition to their points, Sharp and Shartzer both grabbed five rebounds to lead the team. Hornbeck finished with five points, while three players, Josh Embry, Matthew Loughran and Chandler McCrady all scored two points to complete the Cougar scoring.
Sophomore Jaxon Higdon led the JV Cougars with 12 points, all of them coming on three-pointers, but it was not enough to overtake the Eagles, who won the game 39-36.
Higdon’s last three-pointer, with eight seconds left to play, pulled the Cougars to within a point of the lead, 37-36, but the Eagles added two free throws with 6.8 seconds left to push the lead back to three points.
The Cougars had one last chance to tie the score and send it into overtime, but Higdon’s three attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
Keegan Sharp scored nine points, Miles Hornbeck scored six, and Mason Galloway added four. Hunter Saltsman and Evan Clark both scored two points, while Chandler McCrady had one to round out the scoring.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
