Narrows 64 Pocahontas 46

[GMan 3,569]

NARROWS, Va. — The Tide nearly stopped.

 

Trailing 40-24 in the third quarter, the Pocahontas Indians came back to close the score to 41-40 at the end of the period. But Narrows took complete control of the fourth quarter and eased away to a 64-46 win at Narrows High School Friday night.

 

“We cut the lead, played good, and just fell apart at the end,” said disgusted Pocahontas head coach Scott Louthan. “We honestly should’ve (won the game). We missed too many easy shots in the fourth quarter and we just threw the ball away. We panicked at the end of the game and threw the ball away.”

 

“They outworked us. They outhustled us. And that’s basically it right there.” Narrows head coach Todd Lusk had a similar, albeit less-visible, reaction to his team’s third quarter.

 

“Came out of the gates finally for the first time this year and played good in the third quarter and then just went to sleep and just quit playing,” Lusk noted. “That’s the way my bunch has played all year long. They’ll play good in spurts and then they’ll go to sleep for three or four or five minutes.

 

“In three of the games, it’s cost us. We’ve lost ball games because of that. But tonight, luckily we came though and played pretty well tonight down the stretch and pulled back away with it at the end.”

 

Lusk cited the contribution of substitute Adam French as the jolt Narrows needed.

 

“He came in the ball game in the first half and played smart,” Lusk noted. “He’s a senior and he plays like he’s got some sense. He made a lot of nice passes out there. He got in there and scrapped for some rebounds and gave us a career-high 10 points tonight, too.”

 

Brett Buracker led Narrows with 14 points and Lusk was also quick to point out his contribution.

 

“That’s a career-high 14 points tonight for Brett, too,” Lusk added. “He played well for us and we’ve been waiting for Brett to come around for us all year long in the post for us with his offense. I think tonight he finally found himself tonight on offense a little bit and hopefully we’ll keep going on up from there.”

 

Nonetheless, Lusk did point out what he perceives to be his team’s biggest fault.

 

“We got a lot of kids that are not displaying the attitude that I want them to show out there on the floor,” Lusk stated. “We’re going to work on that tomorrow in practice, nothing that a little bit of running won’t take care of.”

 

The 3-6 Indians play Grayson County on Tuesday, at which time Louthan will look for more consistency.

 

“If we can play a whole game like we played the third quarter, we’ll be fine. We’d be undefeated right now,” Louthan said. “We can’t play in spurts. We’ve got to play a whole game consistent if we want to win.”

 

The 5-3 Green Wave travel to Bland County next Tuesday. In order to try to get his team to be more consistent, Lusk will drill his squad on the most inconsistent parts of their game.

 

“Our rebounding has got to get better,” Lusk admitted. “We had two or three kids a whole head taller than Pocahontas out there tonight and I could almost guarantee we got out-rebounded in the game. So we’ve definitely got to get better at blocking out and our defense has got to get a lot better, too.”

 

POCAHONTAS (3-6)

Matt Kennedy 4-12 3-6 11, Brandon Pauley 4-18 3-7 11, Dillon 4-15 0-3 8, Hodock 1-9 4-6 6, Nolley 2-6 0-2 5, Corner 1-1 1-2 3, Z. Pauley 1-4 0-0 2, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 17-66 11-26 46.

 

NARROWS (5-3)

Brett Buracker 6-9 2-4 14, David Thompson 3-8 7-10 13, Adam French 4-8 0-4 10, Reed 3-10 1-4 7, Myers 3-5 0-0 6, Gynn 2-6 0-0 5, Lowe 2-7 0-0 5, Dent 2-5 0-0 4, Palmer 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 25-59 10-22 64.

 

Pocahontas..........................11 13 16 6 — 46

Narrows.............................16 16 9 23 — 64

 

Three-Point Goals-Pocahontas 1-17 (Nolley 1-2, Hodock 0-2, Dillon 0-6, B. Pauley 0-6, Z. Pauley 0-1); Narrows 4-18 (French 2-3, Gynn 1-4, Lowe 1-2, Dent 0-2, Reed 0-5, Thompson 0-2). Turnovers-Pocahontas 21; Narrows 22. Fouled Out-Dillon, Kennedy, French. Total Fouls-Pocahontas 20; Narrows 23.