Staff writer
MORGANTOWN -- Ev-ery now and then, getting the raw end of calls on the basketball floor can work to your advantage at the end of a game.
That happened Monday night as the Cougar eighth-graders held on to beat Butler County 37-30 on the Bears' home floor, a place where mysterious things always seem to happen when the Cougars come to town.
It was a night where three-pointers became two-pointers; a call against the Bears for stepping out of bounds saw the ball awarded to the Bears; the clock ticked away as players readied for a foul shot; a foul called while the Cougars were in the bonus saw the Cougars get the ball out of bounds instead of shooting free throws, despite vehement protests from the Cougar sideline; a conference on the sideline after it appeared the Bears were guilty of an over-and-back violation saw the Bears awarded the ball out of bounds; a Cougar pass near half court, clearly tipped into the back court by the Bears, was called an over-and-back turnover against Grayson County.
All of that led Cougar coach George Meredith to declare the officials working the game, "... the worst pair of officials I've seen in 18 years of coaching, bar none."
It also led to the Cougars being over the limit and the Bears having just two team fouls in the closing moments of the game. That worked in the Cougars' favor as they clung to a three point lead. The Bears were forced to foul time after time trying to get the Cougars to the foul line while precious seconds ran off the clock.
When the Bears finally did put the Cougars at the line for the bonus situation, Wes Smith and Tyler Saltsman buried all of their free throws to ice the game.
On paper, this should have been no contest as the Cougars came in with a 22-2 record, while the Bears were 8-11. The Cougars had manhandled the Bears in their first meeting back in November in Leitchfield by a 45-18 score.
This time was different, though, as the Bears found early success going inside to Travis Connor, their big man in the middle. Connor scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Cougars could not stop him under the basket and on the boards.
The Bears led 9-7 at the end of the first period, and were ahead 13-9 at the 4:47 mark of the second, when a defensive change for the Cougars started reaping benefits. Meredith changed from the man-to-man, to a 2-3 zone that allowed a double-team down low that took Connor out of the equation.
The Cougars went on a 15-4 run that gave them a lead they would never give up. Smith hit a rebound basket at the 2:11 mark that tied the game at 15-15. Smith was fouled on the play and his free throw put the Cougars in front for the first time. Grayson County led 26-19 at the half.
Chris Stewart opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer that gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game, 10 points at 29-19. The Bears answered by outscoring the Cougars 9-4 the rest of the way to cut the lead to five, 33-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bears' Scotty Wade hit a short jumper at the start of the period to make it a three-point game, 33-30, and that's the way things stayed until the closing moments of the game.
Butler's Matt Hudnall had a chance to cut into the lead with two free throws at the 4:55 mark, but missed both opportunities. Connor went to the line for a bonus opportunity with 2:10 left, but missed the front end.
Fouls, turnovers and strange calls filled the closing moments until the Bears started fouling intentionally in the last minute to try to get the Cougars to the line. Smith went to the line with 12 seconds remaining and buried both of his shots to put Grayson County up by five.
Saltsman rebounded a missed Butler County shot at the other end and was fouled with three seconds left. He hit both shots to make it 37-30 and Meredith told his players to just, "Get out of the way," as they had the game wrapped up at last.
Stewart led the Cougars in scoring with 11 points, while Smith had seven. Chris McCoy did fine work defensively and finished the night with six points. Aaron Deviney had five, Travis Johnston had four, and Saltsman and Johnathan Higdon had two each to complete the scoring.
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