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The Parry McCluer High School boys basketball team earned its 14th win in a row last Tuesday, defeating Pioneer District opponent Bath County 86-55 in Buena Vista.
The Fighting Blues (164) would also roll past Craig County on Thursday before seeing their 15-game winning streak end with a close nondistrict road loss to Altavista.
Against the Chargers, the Blues started out hot, with two 3-pointers from JJ Jones and another from Braedon Houck propelling them to a 17-2 lead. Jones added another five points to his tally before the end of the first quarter, and the Blues finished the period with a 35-9 lead.
Langston Cook and Landon Catlett hit 3-pointers to extend the Blues’ lead to 44-9 in the first minute of the second quarter. PM’s Peyton Montgomery then added back-to-back 3-pointers. With the hot streak of points behind the three-point line, Caden Henson scored his own to make the score 57-11, and Houck followed with his second three-point shot. PM led 60-24 at halftime.
With the score 70-30, Montgomery hit his third 3-pointer on the night, and Nathan Glass followed with another trey to make it 76-33. The Blues entered the fourth quarter up 8137.
The Blues played their reserves for the entirety of the fourth quarter, managing to tack on another five points before the game closed in PM’s favor, 86-55.
Jones led PM with 22 points, while Brayden Holdren and Catlett had 14 points each. Montgomery scored three 3-pointers on the night as well.
“Our first group came out with excellent intensity tonight,” said Blues head coach Tyler Kerr. “They ran the floor, shared the basketball very unselfishly and helped us get a comfortable lead.”
Kerr was pleased to have his entire team play minutes in the game. “Some of them haven’t had as much opportunity, but they work equally as hard,” he said. “It’s very gratifying to know that those guys got quality minutes.”
PM 90, Craig 56
Against Craig County in Buena Vista on Thursday’s Senior Night, the Blues honored their four senior players, then proceeded to claim a 90-56 win over the Rockets.
The senior class includes Garrett Burton, who has been a two-year varsity player; Catlett, who has been with the varsity team for four years; Evan Cook, also a four-year varsity player; and Jones, who transferred from Rockbridge County and joined the Blues for his final year.
PM improved to 7-1 in Pioneer District play with the win, and the Blues sit in second place behind Narrows in the district standings.
The Rockets shocked the Blues with back-to-back 3-pointers and then two more possessions that led to points, assuming an 11-0 lead. “Craig came out with wonderful energy,” Kerr said. “They hit some great shots to start that game.”
Behind points from Jones and Catlett, the Blues started to cut into the Craig lead, but continued to trail 18-8. PM scored seven unanswered points before the end of the first quarter, which ended with the Rockets ahead 18-15.
The Blues took their first lead of the game early in the second quarter after an Evan Cook layup and a Catlett 3-pointer, making the score 24-20. PM outscored Craig 25-13, including two Evan Cook 3-pointers, after they took the lead and went into halftime up 49-33.
“After we weathered the storm for a bit, we found ways to cut into the lead and then we just started taking off,” said Kerr, who explained his team knows that “basketball is a possession game. It just goes possession by possession, and you have to grind it out.”
The third quarter followed the same trend, and the Blues continued to pour on the points on their way to a 75-49 lead.
In the last quarter, the Blues finished the game by tallying their highest point total of the season in a 90-56 victory. The 15 points in the final quarter included 3-pointers from Catlett and Ellis Hill.
Leading the Blues in scoring was Jones, who tallied 22 points for the second straight game. Evan Cook finished with 18 points, and Catlett scored 15 points.
Altavista 66, PM 64
The Blues saw their 15-game win streak come to an end on the road against nondistrict opponent Altavista on Saturday, suffering a 66-64 loss.
It was the return game for PM, which had previously played the Colonels in their first regular-season contest. The Blues lost a tight one in their first match-up against Altavista, falling in the closing moments of a 56-53 final.
PM was scheduled to visit Bath on Tuesday. The Blues will close out the season with a high-stakes Pioneer game at Narrows (16-1, 8-0 Pioneer) on Thursday. The Green Wave handed PM its only district loss of the season, a 54-52 setback in Buena Vista back on Dec. 12.
