Published: March 05, 2008 03:07 pm            

East battles to the buzzer, falls in final

East Carter cranked up the intensity and took an 11-point lead into the lockers at halftime of last Friday’s 62nd District Tournament championship game against host Elliott County. But the state-ranked Lions rallied after the break to take the title, 78-67, winning the trophy for the third straight season.

Both teams punched their tickets to this week’s 16th Region Tournament in Morehead by advancing to the district final.

“In that first half we really played hard, we played to the best of our ability and Coach Baker was real proud of how we played. Our defense was really, really good,” Raider sophomore Kyle Bair told The Journal-Times. “And then in the second half, we did let down. We could definitely feel Elliott County taking the momentum of the game -- they were hitting everything on that run.”

East Carter senior Ryan Sagraves nailed both free throws at 6:19 in the third to give Baker’s bunch the 36-25 lead, still up by that halftime-margin of 11. But Elliott County’s Jonathan Ferguson answered with two tosses from the stripe and those throws ignited a 15-0 run that brought the Lions back into the game. During that stretch, the hosts connected on a trio of three-pointers.

“East Carter really played well, give them a lot of credit -- they prevented us from doing things,” longtime Elliott County bench boss Rick Mays said. “When we picked it up in the second half we played with a lot of energy and this team just won’t quit. I knew we’d have a comeback -- our team, with a basket or two, can get going, And once things start working well it’s contagious for everyone on the team.”

Once the hosts pulled in front, East (22-7) got to within a basket on two occasions at the end of the third period; Mark Pemberton’s put-back and Caleb Adams’ free throws. Drew Johnson sank two from the line to start the final frame and evened things at 47 but a pair of Elliott County three-pointers by Maynard and Evan Faulkner proved the dagger for East.

Johnson led all scoring with 24 points to pace East. Bair finished with 10 points and Barnhill put 10 points with 10 rebounds.

Evan Faulkner had 23 for Elliott County and Ferguson finished with 21. Ethan Faulkner chipped in 16 points and Maynard put in a dozen.

East takes on Raceland, tonight, in a rematch of an earlier season contest where the Rams got the better of the Raiders.

“We plan on going in and getting a little revenge,” Johnson said. “We’re ready and been strategizing on guarding their guards -- they’re not going score as many as the did last time. We’ve got a pretty good draw and we’ve got to forget about the district final --we really wanted to win but know we’re focusing on the Region.”

Look for regional tournament updates and the 62nd District All-Tournament selections in next week’s sports.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.