End of 1st quarter – Pulaski County leads 8-4 after scoring five unanswered to end the frame.
Beth Bouldin PhotoAt the Half, Pulaski County leads 19-6.
Terrific announcing taking place today !
10:00 minutes for Halftime
Third quarter defense picks up, Cougars take the frame, 3-2. Lead is 22-8
Final Score – Pulaski County 26, Carroll County 15.
Carroll County took the second half 9-6 !!
10:00 minutes put up on a running clock for the ” Bonus Quarter “
Lady 👩 Cavaliers take the Bonus session by a score of 8-7 !
15:00 on the clock ⏰ for warm-ups…
Boys to tip around 6pm
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Rough start for the Cavaliers as the Cougars take the opening 6:00, 19-4.
Defense for Carroll County tightened up but the shots simply are not falling on the offensive end. PCMS leads 30-9 at the break. Plenty of effort from the Cavaliers but the duo of Flores and Grubb is something to see.
10:00 on the ⏰ for Halftime
End of 3rd – Cougars 38-15
Cavaliers capture the fourth quarter 13-5, making the final score 43-28.
Teams are now playing the bonus 10:00 minutes…
Beth captured a rare Laurel Fork moment during the fourth quarter.
Pulaski County 11, Carroll County 7 in the extra frame.
Head Coaches Darian Brown and Kris Richardson have been stockpiling frequent coaching miles since their seasons began. But last week was played at a pace that would have had the National Basketball Association talking about load management.
The week started out with road games at Christiansburg Middle School and after one day off they returned to The Hill for back to back contests, including a night with neighborly Galax in the house.
One more day off followed and then it was back on the Bus 🚌 for a three game tournament up in Wytheville. The day started with 8am and 9am contests and ended late in the afternoon for both squads.
Playing an already condensed eight week schedule, week number two presented some unique challenges for the coaching staffs and the parents who were wanting to enjoy seeing their Sons or Daughters play their games. Then there are the young Student Athletes to consider and that’s when the Head Coaches offered their thoughts on the week.
” The biggest challenge is trying to make adjustments during the games,” said Coach Richardson. ” My team is very young, and they don’t have the experience to adjust in a short time without practicing it. We have done well with the adjustments we make but it’s so much easier to break it down in person to show all the options that can happen as compared to drawing it on a board and erase it multiple time to show the same thing. I am personally a visual person, so seeing it live with all the moving players allow them to process it easier. Only having a few timeouts per game and an 8-10 minute half-time really shortens the time for change.”
Coach Brown echoed the thoughts after his team captured the Consolation bracket in Wytheville with back to back victories.
” I agree with what Kris said, I also think it’s challenging to keep them focused on wanting to win the next game,” said Brown. “They exert a ton of energy in to one game and then to wake up the next day and expect them to do it again can be challenging, especially for a middle schooler. We’ve had a few different guys step up in different ways this last week and that’s what I’m most proud of. They finished 4-2 on the 6 game stretch. They’re a scrappy bunch.”
Richardson and his Girls earned their initial victory of the season in the final contest on Saturday afternoon. The team had experienced a few close calls as of late, so getting over the hump was a great experience for the players to absorb.
Richardson knows that his team will eventually get there but would welcome more time for adjustments.
” The adjustments can be anything from how to guard certain plays that maybe they have never seen to someone running a 1-3-1 or a 1-2-2 trap and not having enough practice time to easily break the trap,” added Richardson.
No rest for the weary as both teams are set to add three more contests to the games played column beginning with a road trip to Pulaski County. Next stop will be st Galax and then back to The Hill to host Floyd County on Thursday.
The Hill – In the sports world 🌎 so much emphasis is placed on rivals and expectations, that often fans are left disappointed because the game itself simply cannot live up to the Hype.
Galax traveled the 14 miles across US-58 and that fact alone conjures up thoughts of Duke – UNC with their US-15 / US-501 showdowns over the years. While Carroll County was in week 2 of their season, the Maroon Tide players were making their season debuts.
The next extra sauce to the evening was the fact that CCMS Boys Head Coach Darian Brown might have been confused about which locke room before and after the opening game. Brown grew up on the other side of the tracks, having played the game with Galax across his chest.
Both sides of the bleachers were open and full of fans looking for an escape from their lives, creating an electric atmosphere from the opening tip.
With all of that said, it would be easy to dismiss the importance of an early season Middle School Basketball match-up but as Lee Corso would say, ” Not So Fast my friend.”
The Boys played first and the key 🔑 to the game would be the Galax Bigs versus the scrappy team defense played by the Cavaliers. Round one went the way of the visitors as Galax erased a 3-0 deficit into an 11-7 advantage after the opening six minutes.
Grant Reed netted four of his seven points in the frame to keep the Cavaliers close.
Not sure what message Brown gave to the team after the opening quarter but the defense played a six minutes that could make Baseball coach Casey Burcham smile. Carroll County flirted with pitching a shut out in the second quarter before finally winning the stretch 7-1.
The defense created a 14-12 lead at the break but it was the offense that flirted with turning the game into a runaway victory in the second half. Remington Millaway jump started the run with an end to end basket 🧺 and then the Human Spark Plug found Sam Johnson for a 3-pointer.
Millaway added his own 3-pointer and Jaxon Stanovcak scored two of his six points on a follow-up bucket to push the Cavalier lead to 26-12. Quick math shows a 22-1 run 🏃♂️for Carroll County.
Galax answered with the final four pints in the third quarter and the duo of Jordan Hanks ( 13 points) and Zek McKinney ( 9 points ) kicked into gear for the Maroon Tide. McKinney stuck a turnaround jumper to give Galax a 27-26 lead with 3:00 remaining.
Five straight empty possessions ended when Reed calmly sank a 3-pointer to put CCMS ahead with 1:40 on the clock ⏰. Hanks quickly tied the game at 29-29. Johnson sank one of two free throws before Hanks drained another turnaround jumper to set up the dramatic finish.
Millaway made the play of the game, teaming up with Stanovick on a give and go to put Carroll County ahead 32-31 with 0:25 left on the clock.
Galax would get two good looks at the game winning basket but it wasn’t meant to be for the visitors. After the game that had a little of everything, Brown reflected on what the night meant to both him and his counterpart.
‘ This rival game was everything you’d hope it’d be. I remember being in high school(galax) and looking forward to the Carroll game. It was always a dog fight and could go either way! I’m glad to see nothings changed and I’m sure the fans feel the same way. This game was special for Galax coach Jack Guynn and I because we coach a lot of these guys together during the summer.
I made it clear to my guys we could be friends after the game but for four quarters we were going to compete! Our main focus this week has been to start the second half better than our first two games and that’s exactly what we did. We came out and made a run but galax didn’t back down, but that’s expected in a rival game. I’m so proud of how my kids stepped up in the final minutes of the game. There were a few lead changes at the end but our guys didn’t run away from the moment. Galax had a chance at the buzzer and it felt like the shot was in slow motion! Once the shot missed and we secured the rebound, coach Reitzel and I could finally breathe. I never saw myself wearing Cavalier colors but I love these guys and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Galax … 11. 1. 4. 15 – 31
CCMS … 4. 7. 12. 6 – 32
GALAX – Hanks 13, McKinney 9, Boyles 3, Lawrence 3, Lunsford 2, Long 1
CCMS – Johnson 10, Millaway 7, Stanovick 6, Reed 5, Barr 3, Jackson 1
Carroll County Middle School 🏫 Basketball captured the Consolation crown 👑 in Wytheville on Saturday.
Carroll County Middle School Basketball 🏀 went a combined 3-3 Saturday in Wytheville, Virginia and both squads dive back to The Hill with something to show for their efforts.
Coach Brown and the Boys team dropped their opener, sending the Cavaliers into the consolation bracket. The team responded with consecutive wins to finish atop their bracket.
Thank You Coach Brown 🙏
Thanks to the efforts of Mrs Beth Bouldin we have a running blog of the day a few posts 📫 back.
Coach Brown has sent in some numbers as well so we can build on the coverage.
Congratulations 👏👏👏 on the effort !
On the Girls side, Coach Richardson and his team also dropped their opener to send them to the consolation bracket.
The second game of the day was a back and forth showdown with Rural Retreat. The Lady 👩 Cavaliers came up a mere three points short but they would break into the Win column for the first time on the season in the final game of the event.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 