BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Martin County pulled out a 71-64 win over 59th District runner-up Shelby Valley in the first round of the 15th Region Tournament. The game was played March 2 at Appalachian Wireless Arena.
Junior Luke Hale got the Cards on the board with a steal and a putback to go up 2-0. Valley scored five straight points to go in front 5-2 at the 6:10 mark. Jacob Sturgell scored on a putback, and then Matt Linville hit two free throws at the 4:16 mark to put the Cardinals ahead 6-5 with 4:16 to go in the quarter. Brayden McKenzie scored to give the Cards an 8-6 lead, but Valley responded with a bucket to tie it 8-8 at the end of one.
Valley started the second quarter by knocking down a 3-pointer to go up 11-8. Hale answered with a 3 to tie it up 11-11 and Linville and McKenzie scored baskets to give the Cards a 15-13 lead with 5:33 to go in the quarter.
Shelby Valley came storming back with a 7-0 run. The Wildcats had a 21-20 lead with 3:35 to go, then scored again to make it 23-20. Dray Duff answered with a basket to pull the Cardinals within one point 23-22. Duff and McKenzie struck again to put the Cards up 28-25 with 1:42 to go. Teammate Devan Maynard scored on an assist from Duff with 2.5 showing on the clock to put the Cardinals up 30-25 at the half. The Cardinals had a 22-point second quarter.
Martin County outscored Valley 21-17 in the third quarter. Sturgell started the quarter with a basket to give the Cardinals the lead 32-25. Valley went on a 6-0 run to close it to 32-31 with 5:45 to go. Once again, Hale stepped up and drained a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 35-31.
Hale scored 12 third-quarter points and Maynard came up big with four to help the Cardinals to their biggest lead of the game 51- 42 at the end of three.
Johnson of Shelby Valley was hit with a technical foul at the 7:28 mark in the fourth quarter. Hale stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws to put the Cardinals up 53-44. Valley went on an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 56-52 with 4:45 to go. Martin County did score until the 5:21 mark when Hale drew a foul on a three-point shot and drained all three free throws. Shelby Valley did not go away but couldn’t get any closer than four as the Cardinals took the victory.
“We were able to get things going in the third quarter and get little a lead,” Martin County coach Jason James said. “This was a big win for our program. Valley has a good team. We shot the ball well tonight and I’m proud of my guys for stepping up.”
The Cardinals shot 26 of 52 from the field for 50.0%, knocked down 6 of 11 3-pointers for 54.5%, and hit 13 of 15 free throws for 87%.
Hale led Martin County with a game-high 28 points. He shot 11 for 11 from the free-throw line, hitting 7 for 7 in the fourth quarter. McKenzie dropped 13 points, Maynard and Linville each added 10, Sturgell scored six and Duff finished with four.
Sturgell hauled in seven boards to lead Martin County in rebounding, while Maynard was close behind with six.
Ethan Sykes led Shelby Valley with 14 points. Chaz Brown, Russ Osborne and Preston Johnson each added 13 points, Caleb Lovins finished with eight and Collier Fuller flipped in three.
The Cardinals moved to 22-10 on the season and advanced to semifinal play Saturday.
