PM Boys Complete Sweep

Blues Coast Past ‘Cats; Cook Surpasses 1,000 Points

Last week, the Parry McCluer High School boys basketball team twice jumped out to big leads and then twice rolled to victory over local rival Rockbridge County to complete a boys basketball season sweep.

PM junior guard Langston Cook hit a milestone in PM’s 71-38 victory on Monday of last week in Lexington, surpassing 1,000 career points. In the rematch Saturday, the Fighting Blues used a decisive run between the second and third periods to top the Wildcats 70-48 in Buena Vista.

“In any game, you are trying to set the tone early, especially in a big rivalry game,” said PM head coach Tyler Kerr, whose team has reeled off five straight wins this season to improve to 5-2 overall and has won six in a row over RC. “We wanted to make sure we were the ones delivering the blows first, and not the opposite. You want to shut the door early, and I thought we did a good job of that.”

PM scored the first seven points of Saturday’s contest and took advantage of two long scoring droughts from the Wildcats (3-6) in the first quarter. RC didn’t get its first bucket until Brayden Camden hit a 3-pointer more than three minutes into the game, and then the ‘Cats went scoreless over the final 3:29 of the period, allowing the Blues to build up a double-digit lead after the first eight minutes.

PM closed the quarter with a 9-0 run, sparked by a Nathan Glass bucket after a turnover. Parker Snider converted an old-fashioned threepoint play after a steal, and Cook closed the period with a three-point play of his own to give the Blues a 21-10 lead.

The Wildcats kept it close, staying within nine points, 26-17, when Bradi Ziegler hit all of his free throws after being fouled on a 3-point shot with 6:19 remaining until intermission. When Christian Moore drove the lane for a layup at the 5:14 mark, the RC deficit was still just nine, 28-19.

But the Blues outscored the Wildcats 11-4 over the last 5:17 of the second quarter to extend the advantage to 39-23 at halftime and, after intermission, PM continued to pour it on with a 14-3 spurt to push the lead to 53-26 with 2:03 left in the third quarter.

“They were hanging around,” said Kerr. “Hats off to them. They made some adjustments between Monday and tonight, trying to slow us down. Getting out on that 11-4 run was huge.”

“Really, the second quarter was [the difference],” said RC head coach Rob Winfield. “If you look at the rest of the way, it’s basically even. One of our weaknesses this year is we sometimes struggle to score the basketball.”

Though the Wildcats shot the ball better than they did in Monday’s loss to the Blues, RC still managed to hit just 19-of-52 shots (36.5 percent) from the floor and they made only four of 17 3-point tries (23.5 percent). Meanwhile, the Blues converted 54.2 percent of their shots (26-of-48), which often consisted of fastbreak layups, as PM made a conscious effort to try to speed up the game.

“If we can get in the half-court game, I really do feel as a halfcourt defensive team, we’re good,” said Winfield, whose team was coming off a 56-38 home loss to Turner Ashby the day before. (See separate story.) “It’s that transition game we’re still working on.”

Both teams played that decisive stretch, particularly the final minutes of the second quarter, with key players on the bench due to foul trouble. RC’s Camden had to exit the game after picking up his third foul in the first half. At the same time, Cook went to the sideline after being whistled for his second.

“Brayden went out with three fouls, and he’s a big part of our offense, not only scoring but creating for others,” Winfield explained. “So that hurt us.”

“Those first three guys they have can really get to the rim,” said Kerr. “Getting [Camden] off the floor was really big for us, as far as matchups and the way we could help on defense.”

The Blues were able to take advantage, even without Cook, PM’s leading scorer. Jamier Jordan started the run with a 3-pointer at the 5:17 mark, and Quentin Rosser drained a trey with 1:48 remaining before halftime. The Blues closed the quarter with fastbreak buckets from Sam Griffin and Brody Coleman to build up the 16-point lead.

“In this game, you have to have people step up. That’s why five play,” said Kerr. “There are going to be nights when people are in foul trouble. There are going to be nights when people aren’t shooting the best. For everybody else to rally and make plays with him on the bench, I thought that was a big boost of confidence for our other guys. I was really proud of the way we closed out that half.”

After halftime, Cook returned to score 10 of PM’s first 14 points as the Blues all but put the game away.

Cook finished with a gamehigh 24 points, while Glass chipped in with 12. Jordan added 10 points to the PM effort.

Camden paced the Wildcats with 15 points, and Ziegler tallied nine. Fisher Newhall added eight points to the RC cause, and Moore chipped in seven.

PM 71, RC 38

Monday’s game was almost a carbon copy of Saturday’s PM victory. The Blues jumped out to a big first-quarter lead and took advantage of two long RC scoring droughts to pick up the 71-38 win.

The only real drama was when Cook would hit his milestone. Entering the contest, the PM junior needed just 11 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career, and he got that bucket with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter, when he swiped the ball from a Wildcat player and raced the length of the court to give the Blues a 25-10 lead after the first eight minutes.

“A thousand points itself is a huge accomplishment,” Kerr said, “and if you go back and look at the amount of games he’s done it in, to be at the beginning of his junior year, that is a testament to the amount of work he puts in as an individual. Not only is he a great talent, but he works at it constantly.”

“The biggest thing is he is a great teammate,” the PM coach continued. “He does it in the classroom, and he’s just an amazing kid. I’m blessed to coach him, and I’m blessed to have him as part of our program.”

Cook’s layup was two of 12 points he scored in that opening period, and he finished with a game-high and season-high 36 points to go along with four steals. Glass recorded a double-double for the Blues, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, and Rosser also had 11 rebounds to complement his six assists. Jordan chipped in eight points for PM.

Ziegler knocked down a trio of 3-pointers to score 11 points to lead the Wildcats. Camden added nine points for RC.

The Blues extended their lead to 36-17 by intermission and 54-34 through three quarters. If there were any doubts, PM put those to bed in the final stanza, holding the Wildcats to just four points in the period, and outscoring the hosts 17-2 over a five-minute span.

The two games against PM were part of a daunting stretch for the Wildcats. For the RC coach, this is part of the growing process and the continued improvement of his team.

“We have to continue to work hard, continue to get better, continue to trust our teammates, and continue to work in practice,” said Winfield. “We’re getting better. We’re doing a lot of the right things. We’re still in good shape. We’re getting better every day.”

The Blues face a grueling stretch of their own, with five games over a course of eight days. PM was scheduled to travel to Auburn on Monday and then to Highland County last night. On Thursday, the Blues will play host to Craig County, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. They’ll then travel to Buchanan to face nondistrict rival James River on Saturday, beginning with the JV game at 1:30 p.m. The long stretch will wrap up on Monday when the Blues play host to Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, starting with the JV game at 5:30 p.m.