Dublin…Playing in front of a very big and loud crowd, the Cougars had the game ripe for the picking. Then a couple huge and somewhat questionable calls saw the Pulaski Co. Cougars one point lead turned into a Radford Bobcat 9-0 win to put the game away in the last two minutes. The state’s second ranked Radford Bobcats (12-0) pulled out a 77-68 hard fought win over the Cougars. The game featured back and forth, field goal answering and intense affair between the rivals that are separated by Memorial Bridge.

Up 65-64 with 2:30 showing on the clock, the Cougars had a big play that went against them turning into a four point play for the Bobcats that really decided the game.

A screen play for Radford junior star point guard Quinton Morton -Robertson came off a screen at the top of the key that looked like a moving screen that was called a foul on the Cougars as he drilled the three pointer and was sent to the line for a point swing that put Radford 68-64. Then after a missed Cougar shot, freshman Cam Cormany would drill another three pointer and it a 72 -65 , game over match point. Cormany would drill four three-pointers in the stretch run of the fourth quarter and finished with 22. Morton-Robertson led the Bobcats with a game and team high 31. He drilled five threes for the game and Radford fished updrilling 13 three-pointers. Most of the time when a team hits that many three’s, they won’t shoot as many foul shots. That wasn’t the case in this game as they shot 26 foul shots as compared to the Cougars 12. They outscored Pulaski Co. by 10 points at the charity stripe.

Pulaski Co. coming off a physical overtime win on Friday over Cave Spring played very well for the four quarters against Radford, while the Bobcats had Friday night off.

“I thought we competed real well tonight against a very good well coached team,” said Cougar head coach Andrew Hart. “They (Radford) made a couple big plays the last couple minutes. I thought our guys played extremely well after coming off a very tough overtime win from last night. It was very intense, answering a three-point bucket with a three-point bucket. Then one team would hit a short jumper for two and the other team would answer with their own bucket.” Coach Hart then said, ”Braeden( Blevins) played perhaps his best game.“

Radford head coach Rick Cormany commented, “That’s the strongest performance against us that we have had in a long time. I think both teams will and did get better from tonight’s game.” Coach Cormany then said, “I told Coach Hart that’s his team has really improved from the first time we faced them. It was a great game to sit and watch. It’s what a good high school basketball game is about. Back and forth and answering each other.”

The Cougars (7-5) took a 21-17 lead after the opening period and were up 36-29 at intermission. The Bobcats would outscore the Cougars 19-11 to take a 48-47 advantage heading to the final quarter.

The junior varsity contest saw littlest Cougar Hayden Gray pump in 26 points as he stroked seven three’s to lead them to a convincing 66-41 thumping. The young Cougars are now 8-2 on the season. Beside Gray’s 26, Luke Russell had 13 and Dillon Porter chipped in with 11. The Bobcats got seven points from Justice Marshall, six apiece from Kamaree Tanner and Brad Acosta.

 

 

Radford 17 12 19 29-77

Pul. Co. 21 15 11 21- 68

 

 

Radford – Morton-Robertson 31, Prioleau 9, Cormany 22, Edwards 11, Phillips 4

 

Pul.Co. – Akers 8, Grubb 22, Jackson 2, Blevins 14, Reinhardt 4, Poe 5, Robertson 13

 

3 PT. Goals – Radford 13-(Morton-Robertson 5, Cormany 6, Edwards 2), Pulaski Co. -8-(Grubb 3, Robertson 3, Akers 2)

 

Total FGs – Radford – 22 , Pul. Co. – 22

 

FTs – Radford 20 of 26, Pul. Co. 10 of 12

 

Total Fouls – Radford – 12 , Pul. Co. 22

 

Fouled Out- Pul. Co. – Robertson

 

Technicals – None

Dublin…Down 54-49 with just two minutes left in the contest, Cougar senior CC Grubb shot three straight downtown jumpers and Braeden Blevins hit a huge free-throw that sent their game with Cave Spring into overtime, 58 all. The Cougars would then outscore the Knights 13-6 in the extra time as Grubb scored five and Logan Robertson scored four, as they would pull out a thrilling 71-64-overtime game in the Cougar Den.

Grubb scored a team and game high 29 points, with him downing seven three’s. He pumped in 14 of the Cougars 16 fourth quarter points. So in the fourth quarter and overtime he pumped in 19 of his 29.

Cave Spring got 18 points from point guard Devin Beckner and 17 from Crawford Enyart.

In the overtime period, the Cougars took command as Grubb hit a downtown three, and Kade Akers hit one of two free throws to go up 62-58. The Knights then got a bucket from Beckner, and he hit one of two free throws to cut the margin back to one, 62-61.

Logan Robertson of the Cougars hit a driving layup, and Grubb would also to go up 67-62 as Blevins hit one of two foul shots to help put the game in the win column for the Cougars.

“We battled tonight. We got the late run at the end of the fourth quarter and continued that into the overtime,” said a relieved Cougar head coach Andrew Hart. He then added, ”Cave’s point guard Beckner is real good and it was a game of runs.”

The Cougars find themselves up 42-38 after three quarters but saw Cave spring go on a 11- 4 run to go up 49-46 with 3:40 left in the game. The win upped the Cougars to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in the River Ridge District.

The Cougar junior varsity saw their four game win streak come to an end as they lost to the Knights 56-49. The young Cougars (8-2) just committed to many turnovers down the stretch that cost them a loss. Dillon Porter led the Cougars with 19 points and Chris Hay assisted with 14 points. Reed Pendleton led the Knights with 20 points.

The Cougars play Radford Saturday night in the Cougar Den. They will then travel to Salem Tuesday Jan. 16. The junior varsity contest tips at 5:30 and the varsity at 7: 00 pm.

 

Pulaski Co. 13 15 14 16 13-71

 

Cave Spring 8 18 12 20 6- 64

 

 

Pulaski Co.- C. Grubb 29, Jackson 2, D. Grubb 3, Robertson 14, Poe 8, Akers 5, Blevins 7, Reinhardt 3

 

Cave Spring- Beckner 18, Buster 10, Jasarevic 3, Warner 2, Rosario 1, Huffman 2, Burchett 4, Enyart 17, Cagle 4, Mills 3

 

 

3 PT. Goals – Pul. Co. – 11 – (C. Grubb 7, D. Grubb, Robertson 2, Blevins), Cave – 3- (Buster 2, Beckner)

 

Total FGs – Pul Co. – 24, Cave – 23

 

FTs – Pul. Co. – 12 -22, Cave – 15-25

 

Total Fouls – Pul. Co. 20, Cave – 19

 

Fouled Out – Cave – Cagle, Beckner, Pul Co. -None

 

Technicals – None

Dublin…The Pulaski Co. Cougars stopped a three losing streak as they won a home game over the Blacksburg Bruins 76-67.

Offensively the Cougars looked good as senior C C Grubb scored a game and team high 35 points. He hit six three’s and had 24 in the first half as the Cougars lead 41-35 at intermission.

The Cougars (6-4) also got 14 from Kade Akers, 12 from Austin Reinhardt and Ben Poe chipped in with nine.

Blacksburg got 25 from Grant Johnston, 13 from Drew Babcock. Cole Epperley scored 12 and Cordell Croy pumped in 11 in a losing effort.

Pulaski Co. came out hot on offense as Grubb knocked down three three’s for 13 points in the opening period to put the Cougars up 21-16 and they never relinquished the lead. Grubb keep up his torrid shooting as hit three more three’s in the second. The third quarter saw the Cougars go on an 11-3 run in the first four minutes to open up a 52-38 advantage. They would end up with a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Grubb, who only scored one point in the third, would go on and tally 10 points in the fourth to preserve the win.

“We played well offensively tonight,” said Cougar head coach Andrew Hart. “We haven’t really had a practice now for almost a week and it showed on the defensive end tonight. I’m not happy with how we did on defense.“ Coach Hart then remarked, ”CC (Grubb) got hot there for us in the first half, and I also thought Austin Reinhardt did a lot of good things on the offensive end. It’s a win and happy to get back into the win column.”

The Cougar junior varsity won their fourth straight with a 37-30 win over the Bruins. Pulaski Co. junior varsity got 20 big points from Dillon Porter, A J McCloud had five, Luke Russell and Hayden Gray both chipped in with four points apiece. Eli Reinhardt led the Bruins with 12 points.

Pulaski Co. will be back in the Cougar Den Friday as they host the Knights of Cave Spring. Junior varsity game tips at 5:30 and the varsity around 7:00. The Cougars will also be home this Saturday night as the host the undefeated Radford Bobcats.

 

 

Blacksburg 16 19 12 20- 67

 

Pulaski Co. 21 20 16 19-76

 

Blacksburg- Johnston 25, Epperley 12, Croy 11, Babcock 13, VanGilder 3, Stilwell 3

 

Pulaski Co. – Grubb 35, Robertson 6, Poe 9, Akers 14, Reinhardt 12

 

3 Pt. Goals – B-Burg – 5- (Epperley 2, Croy, Johnston, Stilwell), Pul Co. – 6- (Grubb 6)

 

Total FGs – B-burg – 24, Pul Co. – 31

 

FT ’s – B-burg – 14 -23, Pul Co. – 8 -14

 

Total Fouls – B-burg – 12, Pul. Co. – 19

 

Fouled Out – None

 

Technicals – None