By RODNEY YOUNG
NRVSports.net
The Pulaski County Cougars outscored Carroll County 26-15 in the fourth quarter Friday night and 43-30 after intermission to pick up a big win.
Braxton Merchant had a double-double, scoring 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Silas Sweet also had a double-double scoring 10 points and getting 10 rebounds. Jalere Harlow had 17 points, while Boone Blevins came off the bench to produce 15 points, hitting three threes.
Merchant’s double- double performance also saw him get four blocks, hit four threes and slam three big dunks.
The start of the game saw the Cougars leading 19-17 at the end of the first quarter. They would go down 38-36 at halftime, but the game was tied at 53 all going into the final stanza.
Merchant would knock down eight points in the decisive fourth quarter. He got help from Blevins as he scored six and Harlow scored five points as the Cougars pulled away in the last three minutes of the game. The Cougars started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run before Cavaliers Isaiah Easter hit a bucket and was fouled for the old fashioned three-point play.
Cavaliers guard Blake Reed would then hit a bucket to cut the deficit to just two at 60-58 with just under the four minute mark left in the game.
Pulaski County (5-7) would then get fouled and Harlow hit both foul shots, to go up 62-58. After Easter hit one of two free throws the Cougars got a couple turnovers with Bryant Nottingham hitting a driving layup and Blevins hitting a jumper to put them up 66-59
Easter would then be fouled in a three-point attempt and he hit one of three foul shots. Once again the Cougars got another driving layup from Nottingham and the Cougars would steal the inbound pass with Merchant hitting a jumper for a 70-60 lead.
The Cougars would get scoring from five different players down the stretch to put the game away.
Carroll County got a game-high 33 points from Easter. As he was a one man show in the fourth quarter for them. He scored 12 of the Cavaliers’ 15 points in the fourth period. Blake Reed scored 14 points and Colton Gravley chipped in with 13.
Cavalier head coach Anthony Barnes said, “My hats off to Pulaski County, they played well and they are athletic. They turned us over there and made us pay. We shot poorly from the three-point line and we played out of control at times.” When he was asked about Easter’s performance he remarked, “Isaiah (Easter) is a handful.”
In a happy Cougar locker room head coach Anthony Akers said, “We played great in a tough environment. Proud of our guys and this was a great team win. It was a much-needed win over a good team.”
The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field, 39 percent from behind the three-point arc. They out-rebounded the Cavaliers 35-33 and held the Cavaliers to just 28 percent shooting from three-point land.
In the junior varsity game, the young Cougars (8-4) defeated the Cavaliers 62-44. Eleven of the 12 Cougar players scored. They were led by Ade Jackson’s 12 points. Abijah Hendricks scored nine, Konner Furrow eight, while Justin Stith tossed in seven. Carroll County was led by Ezra Hatcher with game-high 20.
Pulaski County will be back on the road Tuesday, January 13th, going to face a very much improved Christiansburg team. JV starts at 5:30 and varsity to follow.
PC – 19 17 17 26 – 79
CC- 17 21 15 15 -68
Scoring– PC – Merchant 26,Harlow 17, Blevins 15, Sweet 10, Hash 7, Nottingham 4, CC – Easter 33, Reed 14, Gravely 13, Motley 4, Lark 2, Bunn 2
3-PT. Goals – Pulaski Co. – 10 ( Merchant 4, Blevins 3,Harlow 2, Hash) , Carroll – 6 ( Easter 4, Gravely, Reed)
Total FG’s – PC – 26, CC – 24
FT’s – PC – 17-22, CC – 14-22
Total Fouls – PC – 16, CC- 18
Fouled Out– Carroll Co. – Gravley
Technicals– None
