Dublin…The Pulaski Co. Cougar boys basketball team committed 12 second half turnovers and missed a lot of open shots that contributed to their 53-46 River Ridge District semi-finals lose to number one seed Hidden Valley.

The Cougars trailed by only one (22-21) going into intermission. They would then outscore the Titans 11-9 in third quarter to take a 32-31 advantage into the final quarter.

Hidden Valley (18-5) would get nine points from Cole Cundiff and eight from Jonah Fitzgerald in the final period. With the Cougars missing some wide-open shots and put backs, the Titans would outscore the Cougars 22-14 in the deciding fourth quarter.

Senior Logan Robertson, who knocked in 15 points, lead Pulaski Co. (12-12). Fellow senior C C Grubb scored 11 in the losing effort.

The Titans got 16 points from Cundiff, 15 from Fitzgerald and Kelly Mitchell came off the bench to chip in 10 points. The Titans win and Patrick Henry’s win over Cave Spring in the other semifinal game held at the Cougar Den will have Hidden Valley face Patrick Henry in the district championship game.

In a very quiet Cougar locker room, head coach Andrew Hart said, “We beat ourselves. We committed too many turnovers and missed too many shots. We played hard and well on defense but offensively we made too many mistakes.” He then added, “Hidden Valley does a lot of little things right and that won the game for them.”

The Cougars will now get ready for regional play this week. They will have to travel to Forest, Virginia to take on the Jefferson Forest Cavaliers. The Cougars are the five seed and Jefferson Forest (14-9) the four seed in the Class 4D Region. Tip for the game at Jefferson Forest is slated for 6:00 pm.

 

 

HV – 13 9 9 22- 53

PC – 9 12 11 14 -46

 

HV- (53) – Fitzgerald 15, Cundiff 16, Mitchell 10, J. Lichtenstein 4, Duncan 8

 

PC – (46) – Robertson 15, Grubb 11, Blevins 8, Jackson 5, Poe 4, Akers 3

 

3 PT. Goals – HV – 6- (Cundiff 3, Fitzgerald 2, Mitchell) , PC – 4- (Robertson 2, Akers , Grubb)

 

Total FGs – HV – 16, PC – 14

 

FTs – HV – 15-22, PC – 14-19

 

Fouls – HV – 12, PC – 19