MIDDLESBORO —   A busy week for the McCreary Central boys team started on Monday with a  close 50-47 loss at Middlesboro.

  In a back and forth game McCreary scored six straight points early in the fourth quarter to take a 39-38 lead.  They were able to extend the lead to three on free throws by Ryan Strunk and Josh Gregory with 3:50 left in the game but the Yellowjackets would come back to tie the score after scoring on a put back.

  The Raiders were able to regain a two point advantage with about two minutes remaining but Middlesboro would go on a run from the free throw line in which they hit seven of ten attempts to take a 48-43 lead.

  Central was finally able to find the hoop again as Tyson Williams scored inside to cut the lead to three.

  With McCreary pressuring the ball Middlesboro threw a long inbounds pass downcourt that seemed to be destined to land out of bounds but but instead a behind the back save by Micheal Wilson landed in the hands of Middlesboro’s Austin Poindexter who finished with an easy lay in to push the lead back to five   with just a few seconds left.  McCreary would score in the final seconds on a put back by Dylan Strunk but it would only cut the final margin to three at 50-47.

  The Raiders had trailed 7-1 in the early going but rallied to tie the score 11-11 at the end of the first quarter.

  The Raiders were able to build a 15-11 lead in the second after back to back baskets by Williams but Middlesboro would take a 17-15 lead after another Raider turnover lead to an easy layup Just before the half.

  A pair of three pointers by Brad Corder in the third quarter gave McCreary a 29-24 lead but turnovers again helped the Jackets to come back and take a 36-33 lead after scoring their final two baskets of the period off of Raider’s miscues.

  Tyson Williams, in his first game after missing four contests with a knee injury scored 11 points while Josh Gregory added 10 and Brad Corder 9.

  Lincoln Co. 61

  McCreary 24

  On Tuesday evening the Raiders returned home to put on what has to be one of the worse displays in the teams history.

  Amazingly the Raiders finished with more turnovers than points giving the ball up 29 times during the 32 minute game while scoring just two dozen points.

  While that fact is somewhat amazing even more so is that the Raiders went the entire second and third quarters and 5:40 into the fourth without scoring a field goal.  During that span of 21:40 they scored eight points via the free throw line in fourteen attempts.

  Oddly enough early on there did appear to be a competitive game brewing between tow teams struggleing to stay above the .500 mark.  Lincoln came into the game with an 11-8 record while McCreary was 10-10.

  Lincoln jumped out to an 8-3 lead but a three pointer by Dylan Strunk from the left corner with 1:04 left in the opening quarter cut the lead to two.  The Patriots hit a three pointer with :24 left after McCreary’s seventh turnover of the period to make the score 13-6 but Noah Duncan would score in the final second of the period to get McCreary to within five at 13-8.

  Little did anyone suspect at that time the Raiders would not score another basket until the 2:20 mark of the final period with Lincoln holding a lead of 56-17.

  Seven more Raider turnovers allowed Lincoln to go on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 22-8 with 2:41 left in the half.  McCreary would hit four of seven free throws in the final two and a half minutes but the Patriots would add to the lead by hitting a buzzer beater from the corner to take a 30-12 half time lead.

  In the second half Lincoln continued to put the Raiders away scoring the first 14 points of the third quarter to extend their run to 17 points and thier lead to 44-12 with 1:25 left in the third.  McCreary turned the ball over six more times before finally scoring on a pair of free throws by Dylan Strunk with 1:12 to go.  After two free throws by the Patriots they finished the quarter off by scoring at the buzzer after another Raider turnover.

  In the fourth quarter the only question left is would the Raiders be able to score a field goal.  That answer finally came at the 2:20 mark as junior Tyler Strunk sank a jumper from just inside the free thrown line to end the drought.  Kyle Tucker would score on a put back with 1:22 to play for the Raider fifth field goal of the game and Tyler Strunk would end the night with a 35 foot heave at the buzzer that fell through to end the game with a 61-24 defeat.

  McCreary would end the night with just six field goals on thirty attempts which just eclipsed the number of turnovers they committed at 29.

  No Raider player reached double figures.  Tyler Strunk led Central with seven points, all coming in the final 3:23 of the game.



McCreary 71

Monticello 52

  After a three game losing streak McCreary was finally able to get back into the win column and in the process assure themselves of not finishing in the fourth position of the district standings which would pair them up with Southwestern in the opening round of the district tournament.

  After struggling to get by Monticello 58-47 on January 10 the Raiders had it a bit easier this time around against the 5-17 Trojans.

  The Raiders scored seven points in a row to take a 12-7 lead and would end the first quarter on another 7-0 run to take a 23-10 lead at the break.

  Monticello would close to within nine at 27-16 at the 4:32 mark of the second but senior Brad Corder scored five straight points and then followed a Monticello three pointer with one of his own to push the Raider lead to 35-19.  A 4-1 advantage by the Trojans in the final second pulled them to within thirteen points at the half at 40-27.

  Monticello would get as close as eleven points early in the third at 42-31 but a 14-2 run that included Corder’s fourth and fifth three pointers extended the lead out to 56-33.  The Trojans would make a push early in the fourth quarter but could get no closer than 57-44.  McCreary’s Tyson Williams scored ten fourth quarter points as McCreary took the 71-52 win to seal a fourth place finish for the Trojans which sets them up for a district tournament match up against Southwestern while McCreary will face Wayne County regardless of the result of Friday’s contest at Wayne.

  Tyson Williams led McCreary with 23 points while Brad Corder added 19 and Dylan Strunk 13.