.jpg)
With its highest point total of the season, the Parry McCluer High School boys basketball team earned an 85-61 home win over Wilson Memorial on Tuesday of last week in Buena Vista.
The Fighting Blues (5-3) were coming off their previous highest-scoring game three days early, with a 75-47 road win over Goochland at the Bob Johnson Classic in Daleville.
With the nondistrict victory over WM, which fell to 2-3, the Blues avenged a 67-58 road loss to the Green Hornets on Dec. 2.
In the rematch, both teams started the game fast, with most possessions ending in points for either team. “In that first half, I think we gave them a few too many easy looks for 3-pointers,” said PM head coach Tyler Kerr. “Maybe we were scrambling a little bit to begin with. They hit their shots, too, credit to them.”
In the closing moments of the first quarter, with the Blues up 16-15, JJ Jones scored a layup in the last seconds to extend PM’s lead to 18-15.
At the start of the second quarter, Jones made a 3-pointer to extend PM’s lead to 21-17. With the Blues leading 27-25, Jones hit his second 3-pointer to extend the Blues’ lead to 30-25. A basket from Nathan Glass and 3-pointer from Caden Henson pushed the score to 3528. Langston Cook hit a free throw to put the Blues up 38-30 at halftime.
During halftime, Kerr told his team, “Let’s go be a second half team.”
“One half isn’t good enough,” said Kerr. “We have to take that next step, and I think we did.”
In the third quarter, the Blues went on an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 49-34. The Blues continued their dominance through the end of the quarter, leading 59-47 going into the final quarter.
PM finished the game in controlling fashion. The Blues scored 26 points while only allowing 14 from the Green Hornets in the fourth quarter.
Jones led the Blues with 23 points, while Landon Catlett added 20 and Cook scored 15.
Today, Wednesday, the Blues will travel to Lexington to take on rival Rockbridge County at 5:30 p.m. The varsity boys game follows the 4 p.m. varsity girls game between the two schools. Before varsity action, the junior varsity games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. with the girls game, followed by the JV boysgame at 2:30 p.m.
Looking forward to the Blues’ matchup with RC, Kerr said, “They are a consistent team and have players that are putting up 20 and 20-plus points in some games. You can’t look at their record [1-6 through last Tuesday]. They are much better than what their record indicates, and on the 27th, we better be ready to lace it up.”
The Blues will end 2023 when they travel to take on nondistrict rival Nelson County on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
