The Hill – Carroll County closed out the home portion of one of the most successful seasons in school history by defeating Lord Botetourt 81-64. The victory allows Head Coach Anthony Barnes to lead his Cavaliers into his first Regional Semi-final Friday night at Pulaski County High School.
The match-up of the two Cavalier squads had even another level of intrigue as cousins Ethan Richardson and Carson Edwards were squaring off for the first time in high school. It was fitting that both players finished the contest with 16 points.
The difference between winning and losing the game was Edwards led his team in scoring while Richardson had Isaiah Easter and Bryce Smoot on his side.
In a fitting send-off for the All-Time leading scorer in Boys Basketball would drop 31 points in his final game in his home gym. While there have been many a night when the Senior cleared the 30 point hurdle, this was the first time he did it without the benefit of sinking a 3-pointer.
In a game full of adjustments and counter punches nothing was more relevant than Bryce Smoot switching from being a long distance shooter to a slasher. Ten baskets 🧺 and going 11 of 12 from the foul line guaranteed that the Cavaliers will look to make the all important leap from Sweet Sixteen to the Elite Eight.
While Bryce Smoot led the offense in the scoring column, it was far from a one man band that entertained the loudest crowd in recent times. The crowd was amped to the point that Barnes led his post games comments with his appreciation.
” First and foremost I wanna thank the Crazies in the student section,” said Barnes. ” Wow what a turnout and huge for the atmosphere of the game.”
Carroll County (22-1) split their wins between early knock outs and wearing teams down in the fourth quarter. CCHS raced out to a 10-4 lead as Bryce Smoot and Easter ( 18 points) took turns leading the way. But the northern Cavaliers refused to go quietly into the night.
LBHS pulled even at 16-16 before Landon Puckett broke the tie at the end of the quarter, giving CCHS its only two bench points. The teams continued to play aggressively on the offensive end and they combined to make 13 of 14 first half free throws Brayden Smoot ( 10 points) added a 3-pointer in between two strong layups from Easter but another late long ball from LBHS cut the halftime lead to 37-32.
While the jump shots and long balls weren’t falling in the opening half, the home team ratched up their defense.
” Yesterday we had one of if not the best shooting practices I have ever been a part of, then what do we do, struggle shooting ” added Barnes. ” But I can tell you what we did do we played DEFENSE, we were gritty and flat out tough.”
Easter did his best to put the game out of reach, scoring six of his points in a small third quarter. But once again LBHS answered back and the lead was 56-50 heading into the final 8:00. The third was once again highlighted by amazing accuracy from the foul line as the teams combined to go 9 of 10 in the quarter.
Back to the part of the reference to if Carroll County doesn’t get the opponent early, they simply run them into the ground late. No matter that it was a six man rotation playing against a nine man, CCHS opened it up at the end. Richardson netted the first five points of a 7-1 run with the other two coming on a picture perfect pass from Easter to Cody Reece (4 points).
The next 3-pointer from Richardson was the dagger 🗡 at the 4:00 mark. The lead was then 68-53 and this time there would be no bounce back from the visitors.
The final line on charity shots was 38 of 44 (86%), going to show both the ability to make the shot and the level of physical play throughout.
The game was played in a full and loud gym with tough defense and aggressive offense from both sides. The outcome was still in doubt until the final minutes, just the way that post season basketball should be.
” I felt like at any point in the game we would put them away and they would knock a couple shots down,” Barnes noted. ” Isiah Easter held their leading scorer to 10, on top of putting in 18, 12 Rebounds. He just continues to be hard to stop slashing towards the rim. We only turned the ball over 3 times in the second half and controlled the boards. Hats off to them they played just as hard as us but hard to stop our 5 guys. We were 23-28 from FT LINE ! Which will win ball games at any level. So proud of the guys , the coaches. Richardson , Easter and Smoot are scorers
and you have to pick your poison at some point. These guys just flat out refuse to loose and they making history with each win. So blessed, blessed with great young men , Coaches and students and community! On too Friday ! HOW ABOUT THEM CAVS !”
Carroll County will play #3 seed Cave Spring Friday night at Pulaski County High School with a tip time of 7:30. The other Semi-final will be the opening game as Northside looks to continue their quest for a second consecutive State Championship.
The winners 🏆 will meet on Saturday in Dublin with both teams advancing to the State Tournament.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 