Dublin – Carroll County punched its ticket to the State Tournament Friday night and on Saturday afternoon they showed that it could run with the Big Dogs 🐕. The Cavaliers returned to The Hill with the Runner Up Trophy but know that they put a scare into Northside before falling 65-51 to the Vikings at Pulaski County High School.
Northside High is trying hard to turn their back to back Championships into a 3-peat and they will be favored in every game the rest of the way.
The Vikings stormed out of the gate in the battle of 1 lose teams and when they scored the first six points of the second quarter the lead was 29-13, the Cavaliers had their back to the wall for the first time this season.
Carroll County counter punched with an 11-2 run that included a 3-pointer from both of the Smoot twins. Head Coach Anthony Barnes motivated his team into playing the second quarter to 14-13.
Tough turnaround against defending State Champs, from Cave pushing us,” said Barnes. ” They are state Champs for a reason, phenomenal guards which also are their best defenders , then when you add a a 2 time state championship coach makes its even tougher”.
Carroll County wasn’t going to settle for not getting blown out as the Cavaliers opened the second half with a 12-6 run, cutting the deficit to 43-40. Two things happened right after that with the first being Cody Reece picking up his fourth foul and Mykell Harvey updating his State Player of the Year resume.
Harvey ( game high 25 points) and backcourt mate Cy Hardy combined for 42 of their teams 65 points. As Barnes stated, the duo plays defense as well as they play offense.
Brayden Smoot( 10 points) never left the game and went as hard as humanly possible for 32 minutes. Showing no fear, Brayden Smoot challenged the much bigger Vikings repeatedly. Bryce Smoot (15 points) also went the distance and spent most of the contest with a defender trying to climb inside of his jersey.
Isaiah Easter finished with a team high 17 points but had to leave the game due to an injury with 1:08 remaining. With the Cavs next game taking place on Tuesday, the team will hope for a quick recovery. Ethan Richardson finished with nine points and joined the Smoots in the 32 minutes club.
” I felt like our effort was their , and our grit but we struggled shooting and finishing at rim,” added Barnes. ” They are really good at applying pressure. We survived the first way going into half down 11, then we outscored them till the 3:14 mark in the third cutting it to 3.Then they went on another run, we gave up too many second shots to win with them. Foul trouble plagued us with Reece also. Easter, Bryce and Brayden all in double figures, Ethan had to earn any open looks. I’m very proud of them playing back – back that hard, so proud of Cavalier Nation, this group has far succeeded any that my coaches and myself would imagine, I personally don’t feel the last dance is over, we will get after it Monday and hit the road Tuesday. THESE CAVS ARE TOUGH.”
Saturday afternoon Carroll County stood eye to eye with the best team in the Commonwealth and they didn’t blink. Over the finally 22 minutes, the Cavs outscored the Vikings, 38-36. NHS was bigger, stronger and faster but they were not tougher.
Spotswood upset #1 Western Albemarle and will host Carroll County on Tuesday night in Rockingham County.
Carroll County. 13. 13 16 9 – 51
Northside HS. 23 14 14 14 – 65
A.S.P.N on The Hill 