The middle school Cougars closed out their regular season with a pair of wins over visiting Warren East during Thursday's 8th-Grade Night festivities.

In the opener, the seventh-graders got a 10-0 run at the start of the second quarter to separate themselves from the Raiders and went on to win easily, 41-24.

In the eighth-grade game, the Cougars used an 11-2 run at the end of the second quarter to open up a tight game and send them on to a 54-34 win.

SEVENTH-GRADE GAME

Rance Whobrey just missed a double-double in this game after scoring a game-high 22 points and pulling down nine rebounds to lead the Cougars to victory.

The Cougars scored the first five points of the game, but the Raiders (10-12) were able to pull back to within a point at 6-5 with 54 seconds left in the opening period. Ethan Saltsman then hit 1-of-2 at the free-throw line and Whobrey beat the buzzer with a three-pointer and the Cougars led by five, 10-5 heading into the second quarter.

The Raiders scored first to make it a three-point game with 5:48 left, but the Cougars responded with 10 straight points, including threes by Whobrey and Blake Decker to lead by 13 points, 20-7 with 2:30 left in the half. Grayson County led by 14 points, 23-9 at the break.

When the Cougars opened the third period by outscoring the Raiders 10-2 and taking a 22-point lead, 33-11 with 1:21 left, the outcome was pretty much sealed. Grayson County led 37-15 heading into the final period of play.

Ten Cougars cracked the scoring column in the game. Decker, Presley Cilyok and Grant Akridge each scored three points, while Bryce Basham, Nathan Clemons, Logan Nichols and Ty Davis had two apiece. Saltsman and Dustin Crane closed out the scoring with one point each.

EIGHTH-GRADE GAME

The game was tied three times in the early going before four straight Cougar points gave them a 15-11 lead at the 4:50 mark of the second quarter.

After the Raiders' Dalton Whitney scored at the 4:10 mark to make it a two-point game, the Cougars went on their 11-2 run to increase the lead to 11 points, 26-15 at the end of the first half.

A Rance Whobrey three-pointer with 3:26 left in the third quarter increased the lead to 16 points, 35-19 and the Cougars led by 18, 41-23 heading into the final period of play.

Playing against bench players in the fourth quarter, the Raiders were able to close to within eight points, 52-34 with 17 seconds remaining to be played, but Billy Clemons closed out the game by scoring off a nice pass from Tyler Willen to make the final margin 10 points.

Xavy Britt led the Raiders in scoring with 12 points. Brady Clemons led all scorers in the game with 21 points. Clemons also had four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals on the night.

Whobrey was the only other player in double-figures with 11 points. He also led the team with seven rebounds and added an assist and two steals.Tyler Hill, who had probably his best game of the year, finished with six points, as did Jakob Clemons.

Zach Berry scored four points and added five boards and a steal.

Devin VanMeter had three points, and Billy Clemons had two to complete the scoring.

News-Gazette Sports Reporter

dbrown@gcnewsgazette.com