Both Howard Mayo and Anthony Barnes are set to lead their programs on the hardwood floor at Carroll County High School. November 15th is set aside for Alumni action and to meet the current players. Today we take a closer look at the Coaches who will assist our two leaders this winter.

Starting on the Girls side, Mayo is set for year 2, take 2. The veteran Coach has found success in a number of stops over the decades and has returned to the place where it all started.

Consistency is a key 🔑 to success and Mayo welcomes back his Top four Coaches from last season. Kayla Nester returns as the lead Assistant for the Varsity and the teaching Trio of Halie Cushman, Brittany Luneherry and Chenoa Payne will team up to lead the Junior Varsity Girls.

Cushman will hold the title of Head Coach on the JV team but the three ladies are in this together. Again, having the players hearing the same voice is HUGE, especially when a program is in a rebuilding stage.

Mayo landed some Big names in regards to the Middle School Girls program ! The trio of Kris Richardson, Steve Martin and Lauren Alley have already began their eight week season this week.

Richardson made the transition from the Co-Pilot seat to Barnes to the other side of the isle this year. The new Head Coach will have a ton of Cavalier based knowledge sitting next to him as both Martin and Alley know the game well and played it at a very high level.

The amount of Basketball 🏀 knowledge involved with a Middle School ball team goes a long way in showing just how serious Carroll County is about Basketball !

While the rosters for the Varsity teams are still a work in progress, the Middle School ones are set as both teams have played two games this week.

On the Boys side, Barnes returns after a season in which his Cavaliers punched a ticket 🎟 to the State Tournament. While it will be his initial ride without his long time friend and Assistant Coach, Barnes operates under a next man up mindset.

Here’s the lineup as described by Coach Barnes :

Coaches this year is Stockner lead assistant, along with Jabin Talley and Cody Reece , both are going to be big help with being able to still play and demonstrating what we need too do, very thankful to have them ask to Coach and step up for the program, huge. Coach Phillips and Largen taking care of the jv, Coach Phillips played for T Jackson and has a great IQ for the game and knows the style of play I wanna do. Coach Largen, diehard Cavalier Coach, AAU, school basketball, baseball, football, plus juggling his young kids as well, very impressive.

   Coach Brown comes from George Wythe , spent alot of time with group that won group A State last year, he is driven for success in the program as a whole, he will join me on my staff after middle school season. Alot of things in place for the future of Cavalier basketball for years to come, but this year some unfinished business with Isiah Easter and new cast of guys around him willing to battle and further cement the direction of the Boys Basketball program! I’m excited! Go Cavs !

Now that we have the names of the 16 coaches that are set to guide our six ball clubs into battle, its time to revisit the idea 💡 of holding a Boys Coaches versus Girls Coaches Charity Basketball game !

The combination of talent that would be on display would be historical ! Sure. We would need Nathan Jones nearby and CVS would run out of Aspirin but think of the 16 players and the match-ups.

Meet the Cavaliers on November 15th and know that they will be lead by some serious Basketball folks of high standards.

Darian Brown looking over the shoulder of Grant Reed during first half action 🎬 on Thursday night – Photo Credit : Linda Carter

The Hill – Gibson Barr led the way with 15 points, including two free throws in overtime as Carroll County defeated visiting Blacksburg 40-38. The victory allows CCMS to end week one of the season with a mark of 1-1.

The most impressive part of the victory took place in the second half as the visiting Bruins closed the opening 12 minutes on a 14-0 run to take a 22-14 lead into the break.

The rookie Head Coach had challenged his squad and did it in a Lion King 🦁 type of way.

”  I asked the kids during pregame, what animal is the king of the jungle? They replied “Lions”. This I asked is the lion the biggest, fastest, or strongest animal in the jungle and they answered no. I said exactly! Elephants are bigger, cheetahs are faster, and gorillas are stronger. BUT Lions have that killer mentality and they don’t back down from anyone. Every time we step on the court we will not be the biggest, strongest, or fastest but from now on we will be lions! I asked do I have any lions in here? They replied YES SIR!! I said let’s go show them and that’s exactly what my guys did. I’m proud of how they battled especially being put in a game like that this early in the season. I’m excited for what’s to come”

Blacksburg …     6  16.  9. 5. 2 –  38

Carroll County  4  10  14  8  4 – 40

The deficit grew to nine early in the third after Blacksburg connected twice from deep, sandwiched around a 3-pointer from Grant Reed. Carroll County closed the Gap on a 9-0 run to pull even at 28-28 but the Bruins closed the 3rd and opened the 4th with 3-pointers to create space.

The Bruins had 34 points with 5:28 remaining in the fourth quarter and finished overtime with 38. Quick math says that Brown’s defense surrendered just four points over the final 8+ minutes.

The defense intensified and it turned into instant offense on the other end of the floor. Trailing 36-28, Carroll County closed out regulation on an 8-0 run.

Jaxon Stanovick started the closeout with a put back basket and Barr scored the final six points. Sam Johnson found Barr with a nifty pass and the equalizer came after a Barr steal and drive to the basket 🧺.

Johnson was fouled early in OT and calmly sank both free throws and Barr closed out the scoring at 0:15.4 with the game winning free throws.

AXTON – Bassett High School hosted the annual Class 3D Regional Cross Country meet on Thursday and three Cavaliers represented Carroll County High School.

The weather was picture perfect and that is a rarity for the event. Two years ago in Bristol it was in the 30’s and Coach Montgomery remembera a time a few years back when it was in the 90’s in Axton.

Amelia Forsyth was the lone representative for the Lady Cavaliers as she has been for the past two seasons. While Cross Country runners compete on their own during the race, they have the preparation time with five of their teammate.

Forsyth has been competing for the past three seasons is aware that she has been flying solo and has made the mental adjustment.

” It’s disheartening at times but not as bad as it could be,” noted the Junior Forsyth. ” It’s really fun to support the Middle School runners because there are so many of them competing.”

Forsyth placed inside the Top 50 and was happy to finish the race after struggling to do so her previous trip over.

Senior Trenton Newman has been running track under the guidance of Montgomery in the past few Springs but the Senior is new to the sport of Cross Country. His Coach was highly impressed by how easily that Newman took to things, especially in regards to leadership.

” Trenton continued to improve his time from race to race, which is hard to do for an entire season,” said Montgomery. ” But where he really shined was the way he led the younger runners.”

Will Dalton is a Freshman and comes from a family with an aquatic family but his Mother, Shannon Dalton explains, he loves a new challenge.

” Will is always willing to try something new,” noted teacher and Mom, Shannon Dalton. ” If he sees an opportunity, he will pursue it with everything he has.”

Montgomery added that because of his busy schedule, Will has to practice on his own quite a bit.

” Will is doubling up with playing in the School band so he has to get his workout in around that,” added Montgomery. ” You have to have a great deal of discipline to self-practice.”

As the final page of the season is now in the books, Montgomery can focus on the future of the program. Forsyth will slide into the Senior leadership role and his Middle School teams have strength in numbers.