Blacksburg…The Cougars traveled to Blacksburg and played the Bruins at the Blacksburg Middle School due to gymnastics meet at the high school gym. Once again Pulaski Co. had trouble making shots and lost 68-48 to the Bruins.
It seems that when the Cougars have trouble scoring it also affects all aspects of their game. They have trouble guarding their opponents and rebounding the basketball.
Blacksburg 7-6 got 19 points from guard Antonio Hodson, 17 from big man Grant Johnston and 13 from guard Luc Roccaforte. Jacob Verbrugge also pumped in 10 to place the fourth Bruin into double figures.
Pulaski Co. fell behind early as they surrendered 26 points in the opening period and never recovered. They found themselves down 42-25 at half and seemed to lose any will to battle and scrap as they were down 58 – 32 going into the fourth quarter. The Cougars would manage only 16 points total in the second and third quarters. The only Cougar in double figures was CC Grubb with 18 points.
A very disheartened Cougar head coach Andrew Hart remarked,” We not playing good enough to win. We not shooting the ball well and we not defending either. That’s a bad combination.” He then added,” We are not responding to adversity. We miss a few shots and our heads drop and don’t play defense and don’t rebound. “
The season is going to get a lot tougher for this group is they don’t start playing with some urgency. Some one has to step up and pick this team up. Coach Hart said at halftime,” Guys I can put different players in and I can tell you what needs to be done but you as a team needs to step up and perform, and play with urgency.”
The Cougar still have road games at Hidden Valley, Cave Spring and Patrick Henry just to name the top three teams left on the schedule.
Pulaski Co. Cougar junior varsity blew a 14-point halftime advantage and lost in overtime to the young Bruins 68-64. Dre Grubb and Julian Black both pumped in 18 points each and the Bruins got 20 points from Brian Mitchell in the win. The Bruins shot 34 foul shots in the contest to the Cougars (9-6) 13. They outscored the Cougars 29 to 8 from the foul line.
Pulaski Co. will play Wm. Byrd Wednesday night in the Cougar Den, with the JV contest tipping at 5:30 and varsity around 7 pm. It’s one of only three games left in the Cougar Den this season.
P Co. 16 9 7 15-48
B-Burg 26 16 16 10-68
PC (9-6) – C Grubb 18, B.Grubb 8, Reinhardt 3, O’Dell 2, Blankenship 3, Gray 5, Robertson 6, Roberson 2
B-Burg (7-6) – A.Hudson 19, Roccaforte 13, Johnston 17, Verbrugge 10, Cianelli 4, VanGilder 1, J.Rob Hudson 4
3 Pt. Goals – PC – 5-(C.Grubb 3, Blankenship, Gray), B-Burg -7-(A.Hudson5, Verbrugge 2)
Fouls – PC – 13, B-Burg – 11
Technicals – None