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The Parry McCluer High School boys basketball team split a pair of nondistrict games in the first week of the season, cruising to a 53-28 road win over James River on Tuesday of last week before falling 72-54 at home against Nelson County on Thursday.
Against James River, the Fighting Blues (1-1) took a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 27-18 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Blues outscored the Knights 17-5 to extend their lead to 44-23.
Pleased with his team’s dominance in the third quarter, PM head coach Tyler Kerr said, “We really challenged the team to just be so committed to the defense. They responded really well to it with the help side defense, and just being super tenacious.”
Kerr said that defense was a theme he wanted to follow from former longtime PM head coach Nelson Fox, who coached Kerr, a 2011 PM graduate, in high school. “Coach Fox always said that your offense might have highs and lows, and in the lows it’s gonna be the defense that pulls you through,” said Kerr. “We just want to be tenacious in that regard.”
PM finished the game by scoring nine more points in the final quarter, and holding the Knights to just five.
Langston Cook led the Blues with 18 points, six assists and six steals, Braedyn Houck added 11 points, and Ellis Hill chipped in eight points. Brayden Holdren and Quentin Rosser each contributed five points for PM.
NC 72, PM 54
In their home opener on Thursday, the Blues suffered a 72-54 loss to Nelson County. It was a tale of two halves, with PM leading 29-28 at intermission before Nelson poured it on in the second half.
After the Governors made a 3-pointer on their first possession, Langston Cook scored nine straight points to give PM a 9-3 lead. Cook would lead the Blues with 19 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
The Governors rallied before the end of the first quarter behind the duo of Colton Ward and Bryce Giles who combined for eight points to give Nelson a 17-16 lead.
Cook and Giles each scored a basket to start the second quarter. After a pair of free throws from Giles, Rosser, a freshman, made back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Blues a 26-21 lead. “That young man can shoot the eyes out of the basketball,” said Kerr. “He has a really good IQ for the game.”
Giles would get fouled by PM two more times and make all four free throws. Rosser added two more free throws for PM after a Nelson 3-pointer. Holden scored the last points of the half for PM off another set of shots from the foul line to give the Blues the one-point halftime advantage.
Out of halftime, Nelson’s Aiden Carter sank a 3-pointer, and Giles made a layup. Houck made his first 3-pointer of the night to give PM a 33-32 lead. After another Giles layup, Ward converted two layups in a row and added a three-point play. Carter then made back-to-back 3-pointers to put Nelson ahead by 18. Nelson’s run came to an end with Rosser hitting his third 3-pointer, and teammate Sam Griffin made a 3-pointer to cut the Governors’ lead to 50-38. The third quarter ended with Nelson leading 52-38 after Ward made a shot just inside the three-point line.
Houck made a basket to start the fourth quarter, but Ward responded with his third three-point play of the night. Houck made two free throws, which were followed by another 3-pointer from Nelson’s Jackson Winter to give the Governors a 57-42 lead.
“They hit a few outside shots to start the second half,” said Kerr. “When their guards hit those shots and spaced our defense out, and with the inside presence they have with Giles and Ward, they started to get those inside looks.”
A pair of Parker Snider free throws and Houck’s second 3-pointer was followed by a 3-pointer from Snider to cut Nelson’s lead to 58-50. Kerr praised Snider, a sophomore guard, for his contributions in the fourth quarter. “Parker is a grind-it-out defense guy, but tonight he attacked in transition and looked confident.”
The Blues would only score four more points, which came from Cook, before the end of the game, while Nelson added another 16 points.
Other than Cook, PM’s leading scorers were Houck with 12 points, Rosser with 11, and Snider with eight.
Kerr praised the senior leadership of his team for “showing the way forward” for the younger players through hard work and “not taking possessions off.”
The Blues were scheduled to play host to James River last night and will play at Auburn on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 6 p.m. The Blues will have their first Pioneer District game when they play host to Highland County on Tuesday AT 7 p.m., with the boys’ varsity game following the girls’ JV game between the two schools.
