By Stephen Henderson

Sometimes revenge is best served cold.

The Patrick County High School Cougar basketball team had to wait several weeks for their return engagement with the Bassett Bengals and got that revenge last Wednesday night when the Bengals returned to the Cougar gym. With a great deal of team support from the fans, the Cougars defeated Bassett 49-35.

The Cougars took off early in the game, leading 9-0 after five minutes. The score at the half was 11-3.

“Our players were really focused all week and ready for this rival game,” said Coach Andrew Terry. “The last game we kind of got psyched out about who we were playing instead of focusing on playing basketball and it really cost us,” he added.

Bassett only scored 10 points in the first half while the Cougars led with 21.

According to PCHS coach Andrew Terry, the Cougars needed to cut transition shots or driving shots from the Bengal offense. “We did this by slowing down the game,” he said.

“Our defense was great all night. We came out of halftime and went on a 13-0 run behind three straight three-pointers by Hunter Lawless,” Terry added.

“We did get a little relaxed in the fourth and let off the gas and got too comfortable and they cut the lead to 11, but we finished strong,” Terry said.

“I am really proud of our effort. RJ Hagwood and Hunter were leading scorers, but everyone played well,” Terry said.

RJ Hagwood had 12 points and eight rebounds against Bassett. Hunter Lawless had 11 points (including three 3-pointers and 11 rebounds. Frankie LaComa had eight points, and Seth Scott had four points and six rebounds.

The Cougars have three games this week; Terry hopes to build on last week’s win over Bassett and recent close game with Martinsville. “We still haven’t gotten up to full speed after the snow break, but we’re heading in the right direction,” he said.

Patrick County hosted Tunstall Tuesday night. They play at Blacksburg Wednesday and will host George Washington of Danville Friday.