The Carroll County Cavaliers came into their game with the Patrick County High Cougars on January 17, unbeaten and the #5 Division 3 in Virginia. The Cavs came away with the 61-41 win, though in the first half, it looked like the Cougars might hand them their first loss.
In the first quarter, it was the Cougars who came out strong on both ends of the court. Defensively, the Cougars didn’t give the Cavs many good looks at the basket, holding them to just 9 points in the quarter. Offensively, the Cougars moved the ball around for quality shots and limited turnovers. Noah Jessup increased the Cougar lead to four on a layup in traffic, drawing the foul and hitting the free throw.
The Cougars went into the second quarter with an 18-9 lead, extending to ten points in the first minute. With tight defense, the Cougars continued to deny the Cavs open looks, particularly from the three-point line. Late in the quarter, a Seth Geiger three-pointer gave the Cougars an eight point lead with :45 to go in the half. The Cavs took advantage of Cougar turnovers and closed the gap to four points at halftime.
“The kids played great in the first half. We had a lot of energy and a lot of passion. I felt in my heart that we were going to get off to a good start,” said Cougar head coach Brian Chitwood. Carroll County “didn’t shoot it very well early, and I’d like to think that’s a little bit to our kids’ credit. We came out and played hard, we defended well and didn’t back down.”
Tough defense by both teams made points hard to come by in the third quarter. A Vishal Somasundaram three-point shot gave the Cougars a seven point lead with 4:31 to go, forcing a Carroll County timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Cavs held the Cougars scoreless for the rest of the quarter, taking a 37-39 into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Cavs created better looks at the basket, while stifling the Cougar offense, and pulled away. Midway through the quarter, the Cavs increased their lead to nine, extending it to 20, for the 41-61 win.
“That’s the #5 ranked in 3A basketball in the state. They’re undefeated for a reason. They’ve got some of the best guard play of anyone around here,” said Chitwood, adding in the second half, “we just ran out of gas.”
Chitwood liked the effort the Cougars showed throughout the game, and particularly, the way they played physically in the first half, making things very tough on the visiting Cavs.
“I’m proud of the guys for the fight that we had for the first half,” said Chitwood. “If we can get that for two halves against anybody, I like our chances.”
