The Grayson County High School boys basketball team opened the summer season on Monday afternoon at Caverna Elementary.
In game one, the Cougars survived a late comeback to defeat the host Colonels 49-47 before falling to the defending state champions, Warren Central, in the second game.
Caverna
The Colonels, much like Grayson County, is looking to replace multiple of their leading scorers from last season. That includes the towering presence of Meek Ater.
Three-point shooting got both teams started with rising junior Landon Haycraft putting the Cougars on the board with 8:40 left in the first quarter.
Jack Logsdon would give Grayson County the lead just two possessions later with a pair of free throws. A lead that they would hold for all but a brief period in the second quarter.
Late in the opening half, Caverna tied the game at 18, but the Orange and Blue used a made three by Brody Armstrong and four combined free throws from Logsdon and Hayden Robinson to take a 25-20 lead at the break.
Grayson County would continue that hot run to start the third quarter leading by as much as 12 points.
From there, things got interesting.
Caverna brought it to within four at 36-32 before a pair of threes from Armstrong and Spencer Langdon sent the lead back to double digits.
The purple-clad Colonels would not go quietly. Head coach Steve Barker called a timeout with a little over 5:00 left. Out of the timeout, an 8-0 run brought the game to within two before Haycraft hit what proved to be the dagger three with 2:06 left.
Grayson County was able to not let consecutive turnovers hurt and held on to pick up the 49-47 win.
Warren Central
The second game proved to be a huge test on the first day of summer games as the defending state champion Warren Central lie waiting.
Last season, the Dragons were 36-1 and cruised to the state title. While a high percentage of that team has graduated, second-leading scorer Kade Unseld is still there along with multiple role players.
Jack Logsdon rose to the challenge for the Cougars scoring a game-high 26 points while also pulling down seven rebounds and adding two steals.
Grayson County went toe-to-toe with the Dragons during the first half as six threes helped keep the game to a nine-point deficit.
After a Logsdon bucket to start the second half, Warren Central would go on an 11-0 run to bring the lead to 17 and they never looked back. The final score was 93-63.
Spencer Langdon hit three three-pointers to help score 12 points for the whole game.
Across the two games, the Cougars made 20 threes and shot around 44% from the field.
Logsdon led the team in scoring with a combined 35 points and 12 rebounds. Landon Haycraft had 20 points and 9 rebounds, Langdon added 20 and 4 with Brody Armstrong also having 14 points.
Grayson County will continue summer play on Tuesday morning with a pair of games at Greenwood High School in Bowling Green. The first game will be at 9:00 am.
By Sam Gormley, Play-By-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com
(Headline Photo: Jack Logsdon prepares to shoot a free throw)
