Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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January 16, 2010

Rebels open BDD play with victory

By LLOYD COMBS

HURLEY, Va. — It’s just one win, but if any team needed one, it was Hurley.

The Rebels opened Black Diamond District play with a 46-31 victory over defending champion Twin Valley Friday night at Hurley High School.

Sophomore Thomas Allen hit four 3-pointers and led a balanced Hurley attack with 12 points.

Josh Smith scored 20 of Twin Valley’s 31 points, nine in the fourth quarter against a tight 2-3 zone defense designed to keep the ball out of hands of Smith, who normally punishes teams in the low post.

“Our defense was excellent tonight,” Hurley coach Mark Cooper said. “We were coming off an emotional loss (Thursday) night (at Grundy), and we’ve been frustrated several times early this season. We needed a game like this.

“I don’t want to take anything away from the rest of Twin Valley’s kids, but they missed Lucas Shortridge tonight, and we were able to deny Smith inside most of the night.”

Shortridge, who suffered a knee injury Wednesday in Twin Valley’s BDD win over Honaker, will be out of action for at least a week. Fortunately for the Panthers, Shortridge’s injury isn’t as serious as first believed.

Unfortunately for Twin Valley, it could not generate enough offense to compensate for his absence.

“They did a good job taking away our inside game,” Twin Valley coach Brian Moore said. “When they took a big lead on us, we were a little shell-shocked, and we’re not built right now to make a comeback against a good team.”

Twin Valley (7-3, 1-1) could not muster the firepower it needed to stretch out the Rebel defense. The Panthers got just 17 shots and made just four in the first half.

Allen hit two 3-pointers in the second period that gave the Rebels a 25-10 halftime advantage, a margin it maintained throughout the second half.

“Thomas Allen was a little timid (Thursday), but tonight he stepped up,” Cooper added. “If he keeps working and playing like this, he can be one of the all-time special players here at Hurley.”

Dustin Waynick, who missed much of the first half in foul trouble, scored 11 points, Tyler Cooper added nine points and eight rebounds and Austin Cooper contributed seven points and seven assists in Hurley’s first win over Twin Valley in nearly a decade.

The two teams were tied in a pre-season poll of BDD coaches, and the Panthers defeated the Rebels in a December tournament,

“It feels good to finally get the monkey off our back and get a win against Twin Valley,” Austin Cooper said. “We needed to prove we can play with them to have any kind of a shot in the district.”

Hurley (5-6, 1-0) was just 11-of-33 (33.3 percent) from the floor and 18-of-30 from the free throw line. The Panthers finished the night 13-of-44 (29.6 percent) from the field and 4-of-13 from the line.



Twin Valley 55 Hurley 46

Twin Valley moved to 2-0 in the BDD with a win in Friday’s opener. Katie Jo Lester scored 26 points to lead the Panthers, who led most of the way, but had trouble pulling away from a vastly improved Hurley squad.

Kendra Endicott hit four 3-pointers, two in the second half to keep it close. A 3 by Endicott and a free throw by Ashley Daugherty got Hurley within 44-42 with 3:45 remaining.

Tiffany Keene scored 13 points for Twin Valley, including back-to-back buckets that ignited an 11-4, game-ending run.

Endicott finished with 14 points, Daugherty added 12 and Chelsea Hunt was also in double figures with 10 points for the Rebels.



Boys

TWIN VALLEY (31)

Smith 8 4-10 20. Hughes 1 0-0 2, Hobbs 2 0-0 4, Hubbard 1 0-0 3, Viers 1 0-0 2, Street 0 0-2 0, Mullins 0 0-0 0, Prater 0 0-1 0, Cantrell 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 4-13 31.

HURLEY (46)

T. Cooper 2 3-4 9, Burks 1 5-7 7, Waynick 2 6-7 11, Allen 4 0-2 12, A. Cooper 2 3-8 7, Hurley 0 1-2 1, Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 18-30 47.

Twin Valley...........................6 4 9 12 — 31

Hurley.................................12 13 14 8 — 46

3-point goals: TV 1 (Hubbard), Hur 7 (Allen 4, T. Cooper 2, Waynick). Total fouls-TV 20, Hur 12. Fouled out-Hobbs, Hubbard.



Girls

TWIN VALLEY (55)

Lester 8 8-8 26, Wagner 1 0-0 2, Rose 0 0-0 0, Horn 2 0-2 4, McClanahan 3 0-0 7, Keene 5 3-4 13, Goodman 0 3-3 3. Totals 19 14-17 55.

HURLEY (46)

Justus 1 2-2 4, Broyles 1 1-2 4, Endicott 5 0-0 14, Hunt 2 5-6 10, Stacy 0 2-2 2, Ashby 0 0-0 0, Daugherty 5 2-7 12, Little 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 12-17 46.

Twin Valley........................11 14 14 16 — 55

Hurley..................................8 10 15 13 — 46

3-point goals: TV 3 (Lester 2, McClanahan), Hur 6 (Endicott 4, Hunt, Broyles). Total fouls-TV 15, Hur 13. Fouled out-none.

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