pendleton at bracken
Third-quarter surge sinks Wildcats
BROOKSVILLE | Host Bracken County rallied from an 11-point deficit to pull out a 64-61 victory over rival Pendleton County on Homecoming Night.
The Polar Bears out-scored the Wildcats 29-7 over a stretch of 11 minutes and 34 seconds, including 19-7 in the third quarter, to improve to 6-1 at home this season.
Bracken County coach Jason Hinson attributed switching defenses at halftime as a key to the win.
“We wanted to wait until halftime to make an adjustment and go to a zone and press some. We’ve been doing that a lot lately. We wanted to see how the man-to-man went in the first half and they just shot the ball extremely well,” he said. “We made our adjustments at halftime and I think it was a tale of two different halves. The press bothered them. We turned them over and got some easy buckets, got out in transition, scored some buckets. That was the difference in the game. (It was) a great gutty win for our team for sure.”
The Polar Bears’ pressure defense led to six third-quarter turnovers, which helped lead to points in transition.
“When we went press we turned them over a few times and were able to turn up the heat. I think that was the big thing. We started trapping some in the half-court too. Any time you get some easy buckets in transition it helps your team,” Hinson said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. We were 2-of-18 from ‘three’. It just wasn’t falling and when the ‘threes’ aren’t falling, you’ve got to get high-percentage shots and we did that.”
The hosts also benefitted from a 12-5 advantage in rebounds in the turnaround period. Tad Fisher played a huge part in the rally, scoring 11 points directly off six offensive rebounds in the quarter.
“Crashing the glass I think is one of the most important things in a game,” Fisher said. “I tell every teammate ‘you’ve got to get the rebound’. If one guy gets a rebound, it can change the whole momentum of the game.”
Pendleton County (10-13) pulled away from an 8-8 tie and out-scored Bracken County (11-13) 10-4 over the final 3:35 of the opening period.
The visitors stretched their lead into double figures after a 3-pointer by Cody Sullivan with 3:11 to play in the first half. Sullivan pushed that margin to 11 at 38-27 after sinking a half-court shot just before the halftime buzzer.
“We made shots. I felt like every time we called a play or an offense during a timeout we executed,” Pendleton County coach Keaton Belcher said of his team’s play in the first half.
However, the tide turned in the Polar Bears’ favor in the second half as the hosts moved ahead 44-43 after Fisher scored his 12th and 13th points of the quarter with 2:07 to play.
“When you play at a difficult environment like Bracken County, you’ve got to be mentally tough. I felt like we were mentally tough for three of the four quarters, it’s just that stretch in the third that hurt us,” Belcher added. “We just got casual with the basketball in the third quarter. (In the) first half we executed offensively against the man half-court defense. The second half, Bracken County went to a full-court pressing defense (and) we had way too many unforced turnovers. … That led to them getting easy transition baskets and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
“When you get out-scored 19-7 in a quarter it’s kind of hard to come back from that,” he concluded.
Bracken County led 46-45 at the end of the third period and then scored the first 10 points of the fourth.
But Pendleton County did not go away.
The Wildcats used a 7-2 run over a stretch of one minute and 22 seconds in the middle of the quarter to trim the margin down to three at 60-57.
A Tredyn Thomas layup cut the deficit to one with 36 seconds remaining.
Fisher stopped the rally by sinking two free throws at the :28.7 mark. Clay Monroe countered by nailing two foul shots 16 seconds later.
Collin Jefferson returned the margin to two after hitting the first of two free throws at the 9.8-second mark.
Sullivan had a chance to tie the score with 6.7 seconds left on the clock, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Jefferson added another foul shot with 3.4 seconds to play, but Pendleton County’s ensuing inbounds pass was stolen ensuring the victory.
“I’m proud of our fight in the fourth. We had two or three opportunities to come back and tie the game, win the game, unfortunately we did not,” Belcher said.
Although the rebounding total was even at 34-34, Bracken County had 16 offensive boards to Pendleton County’s 12. The Polar Bears also committed seven fewer turnovers (10 to 17), 13 of which came off steals, and benefitted from getting to the free-throw line more often (24 times to just eight) — converting 16 of their opportunities.
Fisher finished with a game highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds. He also dished out four assists.
“I’m not really a selfish guy. I don’t really focus on (stats). I just still focus on the score at the end of the game and worry about those personal stats at the end of the game,” he said.
Collin Jefferson added 13 points and nine rebounds; while Jhace Cummins recorded 11 points, six steals and five assists.
The result dropped Pendleton County to just 1-10 in its last 11 games. Four Wildcats scored in double figures. Thomas finished with 17 points and five rebounds. Sullivan had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Brett Booth and Monroe each had 11 points. Booth also grabbed six rebounds.
The Polar Bears out-scored the Wildcats 29-7 over a stretch of 11 minutes and 34 seconds, including 19-7 in the third quarter, to improve to 6-1 at home this season.
Bracken County coach Jason Hinson attributed switching defenses at halftime as a key to the win.
“We wanted to wait until halftime to make an adjustment and go to a zone and press some. We’ve been doing that a lot lately. We wanted to see how the man-to-man went in the first half and they just shot the ball extremely well,” he said. “We made our adjustments at halftime and I think it was a tale of two different halves. The press bothered them. We turned them over and got some easy buckets, got out in transition, scored some buckets. That was the difference in the game. (It was) a great gutty win for our team for sure.”
The Polar Bears’ pressure defense led to six third-quarter turnovers, which helped lead to points in transition.
“When we went press we turned them over a few times and were able to turn up the heat. I think that was the big thing. We started trapping some in the half-court too. Any time you get some easy buckets in transition it helps your team,” Hinson said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. We were 2-of-18 from ‘three’. It just wasn’t falling and when the ‘threes’ aren’t falling, you’ve got to get high-percentage shots and we did that.”
The hosts also benefitted from a 12-5 advantage in rebounds in the turnaround period. Tad Fisher played a huge part in the rally, scoring 11 points directly off six offensive rebounds in the quarter.
“Crashing the glass I think is one of the most important things in a game,” Fisher said. “I tell every teammate ‘you’ve got to get the rebound’. If one guy gets a rebound, it can change the whole momentum of the game.”
Pendleton County (10-13) pulled away from an 8-8 tie and out-scored Bracken County (11-13) 10-4 over the final 3:35 of the opening period.
The visitors stretched their lead into double figures after a 3-pointer by Cody Sullivan with 3:11 to play in the first half. Sullivan pushed that margin to 11 at 38-27 after sinking a half-court shot just before the halftime buzzer.
“We made shots. I felt like every time we called a play or an offense during a timeout we executed,” Pendleton County coach Keaton Belcher said of his team’s play in the first half.
However, the tide turned in the Polar Bears’ favor in the second half as the hosts moved ahead 44-43 after Fisher scored his 12th and 13th points of the quarter with 2:07 to play.
“When you play at a difficult environment like Bracken County, you’ve got to be mentally tough. I felt like we were mentally tough for three of the four quarters, it’s just that stretch in the third that hurt us,” Belcher added. “We just got casual with the basketball in the third quarter. (In the) first half we executed offensively against the man half-court defense. The second half, Bracken County went to a full-court pressing defense (and) we had way too many unforced turnovers. … That led to them getting easy transition baskets and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
“When you get out-scored 19-7 in a quarter it’s kind of hard to come back from that,” he concluded.
Bracken County led 46-45 at the end of the third period and then scored the first 10 points of the fourth.
But Pendleton County did not go away.
The Wildcats used a 7-2 run over a stretch of one minute and 22 seconds in the middle of the quarter to trim the margin down to three at 60-57.
A Tredyn Thomas layup cut the deficit to one with 36 seconds remaining.
Fisher stopped the rally by sinking two free throws at the :28.7 mark. Clay Monroe countered by nailing two foul shots 16 seconds later.
Collin Jefferson returned the margin to two after hitting the first of two free throws at the 9.8-second mark.
Sullivan had a chance to tie the score with 6.7 seconds left on the clock, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Jefferson added another foul shot with 3.4 seconds to play, but Pendleton County’s ensuing inbounds pass was stolen ensuring the victory.
“I’m proud of our fight in the fourth. We had two or three opportunities to come back and tie the game, win the game, unfortunately we did not,” Belcher said.
Although the rebounding total was even at 34-34, Bracken County had 16 offensive boards to Pendleton County’s 12. The Polar Bears also committed seven fewer turnovers (10 to 17), 13 of which came off steals, and benefitted from getting to the free-throw line more often (24 times to just eight) — converting 16 of their opportunities.
Fisher finished with a game highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds. He also dished out four assists.
“I’m not really a selfish guy. I don’t really focus on (stats). I just still focus on the score at the end of the game and worry about those personal stats at the end of the game,” he said.
Collin Jefferson added 13 points and nine rebounds; while Jhace Cummins recorded 11 points, six steals and five assists.
The result dropped Pendleton County to just 1-10 in its last 11 games. Four Wildcats scored in double figures. Thomas finished with 17 points and five rebounds. Sullivan had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Brett Booth and Monroe each had 11 points. Booth also grabbed six rebounds.
Scoring |
1Q |
2Q |
3Q |
4Q |
OT |
Final |
Pendleton County |
18 |
20 |
7 |
16 |
= |
61 |
Bracken County |
12 |
15 |
19 |
18 |
= |
64 |
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