The middle school Cougars hosted the Muhlenberg South Suns on Thursday and came away with a split of the two games played.
The seventh-grade boys are finding life without Jack Davis, their only appreciable size on the floor, a difficult one. Davis went out for the season at Breckinridge County with a broken bone in his foot. The taller Suns took advantage of his absence as they dominated play in a 49-30 Cougar loss.
But it was all Cougars, all the time in the eighth-grade game as they led from start to finish in a 56-45 win.
7th-GRADE GAME
It was obvious from the start that the Cougars would have their hands full with this very good team from Greenville. Ethan Carter’s lay-in with 1:33 left in the first period gave the Cougars their only lead of the night, 9-8.
Carson Steele scored with 1:02 left to give the lead back to the Suns, then Shane Chairs hit a three just before the buzzer to give the Suns a 13-9 lead after one period of play.
The Suns then opened the second period on an 8-4 run to increase their lead to eight points, 21-13 with 2:24 left in the first half. They led by nine, 23-14 at the start of the third quarter.
South put the game away at the start of the third quarter by scoring the first eight points to push their lead to 17 points, 31-14 at the 2:45 mark. They scored the last six points of the period to increase their lead to 19 points, 39-20 at the start of the fourth quarter, and that turned out to be the final margin of the game.
The Suns put two players into double figures. Joe McInerney had 11 points, while Alex Van Hook had 10.
Carter led all scorers in the game with 12 points, and added three rebounds. Josh Embry scored six points and also added three rebounds. Bryson Lowe scored five points, while two players, Jake Oller and Lincoln Nichols had two apiece.
Jackson Parker, Caleb Ray and Spencer Sharp all scored one point to complete the Cougar scoring. Rylee Shoemaker did not score, but he led the Cougars on the boards with six rebounds.
8th GRADE GAME
Conner Schultz had seven points, including a three-pointer, in a 9-0 Cougar run to start the game. Grayson County led by eight, 12-4 at the end of the period.
After South’s Carson Steele scored on a put-back basket to open the second period, the Cougars scored eight straight to open up a 14-point advantage, 20-6 with 3:20 left in the half.
Schultz later hit a three-pointer with 1:30 left in the first half to increase the Cougar lead to 16 points, 26-10. A three from Trey Goff built the lead to 19 points, 31-12 with 24 seconds left, but the Suns closed out the half with a three-point play by Demond Johnson to cut the Suns’ half-time deficit to 16 points, 31-15.
South got as close as 12 points in the third period, 42-30 with 1:05 left to play, but the Cougars scored the last four points to push the lead back up to 16 points, 46-30 heading into the final period of play.
Johnson scored on a lay-in with 1:51 left to play that cut the Cougar lead to eight points, 51-43, but the Suns would get no closer. The Cougars scored the next five points to make it a 13-point lead, 56-43 before Case Haire scored for the Suns with 31 seconds left to make the final margin 11 points.
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points, two more than Grayson County’s Schultz, who finished with 23 points and five rebounds. Dustin Woosley joined Schultz in double figures for the Cougars with 12 points, and made it a double-double night by leading the team with 12 rebounds.
Goff scored eight points, including a pair of treys, and hit the boards hard with eight rebounds. Goff also had three assists and two steals. Gerritt Dennison scored six points, Beau Dennis had four, and Hunter Shiarella added three to complete the scoring.
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