Carroll County Sports Report Team Storyline –
Carroll County shook off any Holiday rust after the first quarter, cruising to a 71-48 victory over East Wilkes High School in the opening round of the Danny Jonas Invitational Tournament Wednesday night at Fort Chiswell High School. Davis Reitzel led the Cavaliers in scoring with 27 points, including his first game with two crowd pleasing dunks. Bryce Smoot joined Reitzel in double figures with 18 points for Head Coach Anthony Barnes.
The team raced out of the gate by scoring nine quick points with four players contributing but cooled off long enough to allow EWHS to pull within 20-14 by the end of the first quarter.
” I Felt like first 4 min ,
we looked good, had high energy,” said Barnes. ” Ifeel like we got satisfied and comfortable, then we turned it back up,”.
Once the team became fully engaged they were flirting with perfection on both ends of the court. The Cavaliers matched their 20 point first quarter with 20 more in the second frame but this time limited EWHS to just nine points over those eight minutes. Leading by 17 at the break, Carroll County kept the pressure on coming out of the break. The Cavaliers netted the first 10 points of the third quarter to eliminate any doubt (50-23) in the outcome minus the final margin of victory. Reitzel added both of his dunks in that five basket window, much to the delight of both the crowd and his teammates.
Barnes once again was able to spread the minutes across all 11 members of the team and eight of the group broke into the scoring column before the final buzzer.
Carroll County was joined in the winners bracket by Narrows, Radford and Pulaski County with the Bobcats being the Semi-final opponent for the Cavaliers. The match-up will allow CCHS to get a sneak peak at one of the teams that figure to challenge for the Three Rivers District championship.
” We took really good care of the basketball, 10 turnovers for the game, ” Barnes added. ” We really looked impressive in transition, big night for Davis with 27, Bryce with 18.”
Sitting at a perfect 7-0 with new challenges awaiting his team the next two days has Barnes enjoying the moment but staying equally focused on the next ballgame.
“We have a ton of weapons and too be off for Christmas and not playing for couple weeks all in all I’m happy with results for tonight” Barnes added. “We will face off with tough Radford team tomorrow at 7. On too the next one hopefully with gas on the peddle to the floor.”
The Junior Varsity team also opened play against a 5-2 squad from EWHS. The younger Cavaliers also prevailed, 51-42 behind the scoring combo of Dane Leonard and Hayden Jackson. The Cavs has won three straight now and will play in the Semi-finals Thursday afternoon.
What should happen from here is this story goes to both Coach Barnes and Allen Worrell. Hopefully Coach will add a complete Box Score to it and Allen can run 🏃♂️ 🙏 with it !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 