Cougars amazing comeback brings sweet victory over Cavaliers

Hillsville…Do you believe in miracles? Have you seen tremendous comebacks? That was among some of the things that were said after the Pulaski Co. Cougars came from 29 points down – 25-54 to the Carroll Co. Cavaliers to defeat the Cavaliers 79-72 in overtime. Every one believes it was and is a Pulaski Co. boy’s basketball school record for a comeback victory.

It was a one heck of a comeback for sure. The Cougars found themselves down 23-14 after one quarter and then it got worse. They were outscored 20 to 11 to go into the dressing room down 43-25.

Carroll Co. would then rip off nine straight points to go up 54-25 with 4:25 left in the third quarter and then for some unexplained reason or reason the Cougars who go on a nine to zero run and would cut the Cavs lead to thirteen going into the final quarter, 62-49. The Grubb brothers got hot in the last four minutes of the third quarter with C C Grubb knocking down 10 points and big brother Bryant would knock down eight to cut the margin, basically in half.

The final period saw Bryan Roberson come out smoking as he scored 12 points to help carry them. Down 66-52, Roberson would hit a three, a jumper for two, and a made one of two free throws to pull within 66-58 with 3:30 to go. He then would stroke another three at the 3:10 mark and again at the 1:55 mark to pull the Cougars within two 66-64. So a 12-0 run in less than two minutes pulled the Cougars back to within striking distance. The Logan Robertson’s short jumper tied the game at 66 all with 1:22 to go and it was a 14-0 Cougar run.

Carroll Co. forward Adam Horton would hit two free throws to put the Cavs back up 68-66 with 1:10 on the game clock. The Cougars would miss two shots and Carroll would come down and threw the ball inside to Horton again and he was once again fouled. He stepped up to the foul line with 20 seconds remaining. He would miss the first and hit the second to put them up 69-66.

On their next possession the Cougars Robertson would hit a huge three to tie the game again with 11 seconds to go and the Cavaliers would call a timeout. The Cavaliers would go inside once again but Braeden Blevins would deflect the pass out of bounds with just 0.3 left. After another Caroll Co. timeout they tried to flip the ball up to big man Garrett Haynes for a tip but again the Cougars would knock the ball away to send the game into overtime.

Pulaski Co. from the 4:25 mark of the third quarter to end of regulation had went on an unbelievable 44-15 run to send the game to an extra period. They would own the overtime as big man Austin Reinhardt who was scoreless in regulation scored all eight of his points and Trent Blankenship would make both of his free throws to outscore the Cavaliers ten to three in the extra period to propel the Cougars to an unbelievable comeback, a comeback that is believed to be the biggest in school history. They had pulled a victory out of the arms of defeat.

Cougar head coach Andrew Hart remarked,” I was getting ready to pull the starters down 54-25 or whatever it was, there. I’ve never seen a comeback from this far down. It’s amazing what good things happen when you pull for each other and play with energy and fly around on defense.” He then added,” What a team win here tonight. We had four guys in double figures and Austin would then score all eight of his points in the game, in overtime. This was like two games in one. Carroll Co. couldn’t miss the first half and we couldn’t hit and didn’t play good defense. Then around the half way of the third quarter we couldn’t miss and our press got them out of what they were doing and it was like a snow ball effect.”

For two and a half quarters the Cougar road woes were very evident again. Then they went on a 10 to zero run and their full court press totally took Carroll Co. out of their offense. The Cougars from the mid way of the third quarter to the end of overtime had put up a 54-18 run to win the game and to improve to 11-7.

Carroll Co. head coach Tee Jackson said,” Give Pulaski Co. credit they didn’t quit and they got momentum their at the end of the third quarter. It was like the switch was turned off of one team and turned on to the other team. “ Adam Horton lead all scores with 30 points with 23 of those in the first three quarters. Garrett Haynes had 14, Micah Johnson 12 and Caden Hodges pumped in 10 points.

Besides Roberson’s 22 points, the Cougars got 17 from Bryant Grubb and 14 from CC Grubb. Robertson chipped in with 13.

The Cougar junior varsity got 12 points from Gage Mannon and Dre Grubb in a 58-41 victory. James Jackson and Julian Black finished with nine points each as the JV improved to 11-7. Weston Burcham and Ian Harman both led the Cavaliers with 11 points apiece.

 

 

PC 14 11 24 20 10-79

CC 23 20 19 7 3 -72

 

 

PC- (11-7) – C Grubb 14, Roberson 22, B.Grubb 17, Robertson 13, Reinhardt 8, Blevins 2, Blankenship 2, O’Dell 1

 

CC – (8-9) – Hodges 10, Horton 30, Haynes 14, M. Johnson 12, Marshall 4, Williams 2

 

3 PT. Goals – PC- 11 – (Roberson 5, C. Grubb 2, Robertson 2, B.Grubb 2), CC – 8- (Johnson 3, Horton 2, Hodges 2, Haynes)

 

 

Fouls – PC- 18, CC – 18

 

Free Throws – PC- 14 of 21, CC – 8 of 15

 

Fouled Out – PC- C.Grubb, CC- Hodges

 

Technicals – None

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