Truly hope you have a Magnificent Day and know that you are most certainly Oneof Us. 😊

STUART – Victory number twelve for Head Coach Anthony Barnes was a mirror image of both the road win earlier this week at Floyd County and the CCHS JV win  earlier in the evening as the Cavaliers rolled to a 61-40 victory at Patrick County.

Against the Buffaloes the deficit was 10 points after the opening quarter and Friday night the Cougars led by 10 before Cody Reece trimmed it back to nine just before the buzzer.

Barnes nor his team panicked after the ultra slow start.

” Well Cavalier train started out of the station slow, we really struggled in the first half scoring,  we were 35% from the field and 25% from 3pt line, ” Barnes said. ” Luckily we survived and were only down 6 at half. I felt like we settled way to much and needed to attack gaps more of there zone and force them to stop us.”

Once again it was Bryce Smoot that led the way long enough for his teammates to find their grove. Where victory number 12 differed was it was vintage Cavaliers Basketball that earned them their 2-0 start in the Three Rivers District.

Two nights ago the team needed Bryce Smoot to score 35 points in an attempt to outscore Floyd County. This time they won the game on the defensive end and when the intensity peaks on defense it allows the offense to run and gun in the manner that makes them the most dangerous.

  Across the final 16 minutes of action 🎬 they limited the Cougars to just EIGHT points. Breaking the numbers down even further, the Cavaliers run 🏃‍♂️ in the fourth quarter was 21-3. There is simply no denying that when they play aggressive team defense it creates fast break opportunities.

  The level of court awareness from Bryce Smoot is rising at a very rapid game. Reese (11points, 12 rebounds), while giving up both inches and pounds to the PCHS front court continues to play big.

” I challenged Cody to be more of a force down low and work hard” added Barnes.  ” The last 12 min of the game we started getting inside the lane and started getting to the line and picked up our intensity for a 31-4 run holding them to 5 pts in 3rd and 8 for half. “

  Isaiah Easter once again was a quiet leader as both he and Ethan Richardson added nine points on offense while playing non-stop defense. Brayden Smoot defensively continues to impress and added six points with Landon Puckett accounting for the final two points.

” We started knocking down shots and getting in to transition which is just our game! Easter and Brayden got into foul trouble and again and Reavis and Puckett again gave us valuable minutes” Barnes noted. “Reece train had another double double 11pts-12 rebounds , Easter with 9 pts and 8 Rebounds. Bryce with a hard earned 24.”

  There is both good and bad about being undefeated after the midway point in a season. The challenge it creates is every opponent sees 👀 that zero in the loss column as motivation. The upside is that it makes it easier to put in the physical effort needed to be the better team in the final eight minutes.

” I’m proud of the guys responding to us and half and taking care of business.Our District is tough on any given night you can be beat. I’m proud of them staying focused and playing under control.  They are tough and gritty , they coach push each other and again get the job done! THE CAVS.”

  The Junior Varsity set the stage with another impressive victory, 52-24. Head Coach Jason Stockner watched his team win the third quarter by a margin of 22-1.

  Colton Gravley continued his hot 🔥 hand as he led the way with 16 points. Gravley was joined in double figures with 10 points. Eight of the 14 players scored and there was valuable court team for the entire roster.

  The teams will return to action 🎬 next Thursday night on The Hill when they host cross county rival Galax.

Quick heads up before I start, this will be a much longer read than normal so if you don’t have a connection to the Carroll County High School Boys Junior Varsity Basketball team this might be a hard pass.

   Anyone who follows my writing ✍ style certainly knows that I’m simply a Aaron Sorkin wannabe. Tonight after getting back from Patrick County I hit play ▶️ on the DVD 📀 where Sorkin is describing the difference between being a person who tells a story and a journalist.

  He has penned some of the greatest Screen Plays in the past 40 years and the Haters pounce on every fact that he doesn’t follow to the absolute letter.

I get that because I have to treat a story that could run in the Carroll News as if I am playing a journalist. If I am telling a story for my site I get to have fun with it.

You want the Truth? You can’t Handle the Truth – I still smile everytime I hear that iconic line that Sorkin wrote for Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men back in the 1980’s.

  Five reasons that I have a soft spot in my Heart ❤ for Junior Varsity players and Junior Varsity parents.

1. They play hard and outside of their Family 👪 and Friends, it seems nobody really is all that interested.
2. There Parents face even greater challenges than the Varsity parents because they have to get to a road game 90 minutes earlier.
3. The Coaches don’t get the same respect because they’re “just the JV Coach”
4. The Parents work for a living and Love their Children just as much as Varsity parents.
5. They are our Future !

Prelude – Stockner chose Coach K and Barnes chose Bobby Knight. This is perfect because you now have two great Coaches where one played for the other!!!

Why does Hayden Jackson get to be listed as a star 🌟? It was his Mother 👩 that took the time to tell me that her and her Son enjoy my efforts. Why does that matter so much – because if my site lacks one thing, its interaction. I actually have Zero idea 💡 of who is actually reading and who isn’t????

Blake Reed as a Co-Star 🌟 ??? I am currently asking his Mother 👩 for a Huge assistance right now and I am trying hard to earn Brownie points with her.

  The reality is my favorite part of this team is how interchangeable the players are. They are as deep as any squad I have seen at the JV level in a few years.

Opening scene – Knight and K are in the lockeroom pre-game and the two are discussing the challenge awaiting them. Que Knight, with all of his intensity opening up to K about not being sure he has a Blue Print that guarantees him a Victory that night to protect his perfect season ( Also perfect that it was Knight back in 1976 that had the last perfect season in the NCAA Top Level.

  Coach K leans into the General as says the following – everything I am on the Basketball 🏀 court is because of you being my mentor. Let me show you how to beat Michigan ( Patrick County) for the National Championship. Knight is trembling as the two embrace and utters, Go out there and Win one for the Gipper.

  End of Scene….

Scene 2 ( Larry Bird 🐦 is relevant to the story because he started out as a Freshman on that team before dropping out an going back home to drive a Garbage Truck) Of Course he laced them up again at Indiana State and the rest is History on that one.

  Coach K is talking to his team in the huddle and he is explaining to Bird and Stockton his plan. He explained that he needed to help out his mentor by showing him how to win a game.

Bird and Stockton would run through a wall for Coach K. Here’s the plan, Bird you keep playing at three quarters speed and Stockton, you and the others play at half speed to start the game.

  The plan was to lull the opponent into a false sense of security. Bird scored the teams first six points and at the end of the first quarter it was 12-11.

Scene 3 – Start of the second quarter, in the Huddle, Coach K says just one word – NOW. The team kicks it into High Gear ⚙ and wins the second quarter 16-5 and head into the lockeroom ahead 28-16.

Scene 4 – Knight is talking to K during the break and challenged him to prove his point because he wasn’t convinced. K heads back out and lights an even hotter flame 🔥 under his team.

Scene 5 – The team flirts with the unattainable PERFECT quarter. The tally for the 7:00 was 22-1. I had to fight with the Director on this one because she said it would be ridiculous to believe 22-1.

Scene 6 – It’s the start of the final quarter and Coach K tells his team its time to call of the Dogs 🐕. We are not going to go all Lane Kiffin on them ( inside joke about the Ole Miss – Duke Bowl game last month). The opponent wins the final stretch 7-2 as the final score is 52-24 with the middle of the game being a 38-6 run.

  Scene 7 – Coach K walks 🚶‍♂️ off the court after the post-game hand ✋ shakes, looks into the eyes 👀 of Coach Knight and says – can you follow my blue print or do you want me to Coach your game too ?

  The scene ends with Knight taking a chair 💺 and throwing its across the court, just kidding, even though that did happen once.

  Coach Knight repeats the game plan to his undefeated team. Bryce Smoot starring as Johnny Dawkins, Ethan Richardson as Mike Dunleavy Jr, Cody Reece as Bill Laimbeer, Isaiah Easter as Wally Walker and Brayden Smoot as Jon Scheyer.

Scene 8 – The team followed the Map like a Pirate ☠ looking for a buried treasure. End of the first quarter the team trailed 18-9. Knight added one twist by not saying NOW until the halftime talk.

  His team came out like a Ball of Fire 🔥, turning  a 32-26 deficit into a 61-40 victory to cap the Perfect season. The second half run 🏃‍♂️ was 34-8 with the fourth quarter being 21-3. Again, there was push back, this time the Producers were saying that nobody would believe 21-3.

  Final scene – after Knight cut down the nets, he looks over at his former player and says…..I couldn’t have done it without you, I Love You Man.

As the scene fades out, we here Kris Richardson as Bobby Huggins say- you know that I told you the exact same thing.

Roll Credits – the Morale of the Story is the team remains undefeated because the Junior Varsity led the way……..

Going to stop ✋ fighting Sleep 💤 for a bit and when I wake ⏰ up from a Nap, I will play the role of Journalist and write ✍ a gamer…..

Journalism for JV

Carroll County JV – 12.  16.  22.  2 – 52

Patrick County JV –  11.   5.    1.  7 – 24

Carroll County – Gravley 16, Jackson 10, Reed 8, Rakes 6, Lark 4, Collins 3, Leonard 3, Jones 2.

Coach K’s thoughts :

Wow! What an awesome 3rd quarter! To hold any team to just a single point for seven minutes is quite a feat. We were definitely dialed in defensively.

   The guys tonight really had active hands to get deflections and anticipated passes to get steals which led to easy baskets.

  Every guy played hard and contributed to this impressive win!