BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Martin County High School boys basketball squad hosted games all day Thursday. The Cards steamrolled Logan 97-73 and came back from a six-point deficit with 36 seconds to go to defeat Pike Central 68-67.
The first game of the day was a tight one with Betsy Layne squeaking by Wayne 58-53.
Lawrence County rolled past Betsy Layne 70-61 in the following game.
Floyd Central handled Wayne with a 72-63 score in a fast-paced match-up.
Lawrence County from the 15th Region defeated Logan 61-50.
The Boyd County Lions made it rain threes and dominated Floyd Central 92-70.
Martin County was three points shy of the century mark when the Cards triumphed over Logan 97-73.
Parker Watts led the Cards with 26 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Peyton Davis put on a show and drained seven 3s. He finished with 23 points.
Bryson Dials was close to a triple-double with nine points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. He had two steals to close out the game.
Brayden Estep nailed four 3-pointers and had 14 points in the win. He had three rebounds and two steals to round out the stat sheet.
Jaden Stewart and Pike Central could not handle Boyd County and were defeated 97-51.
The Cardinals saved the best for last when they took on Pike Central in the final game of the day. With 35.9 on the clock, Dials went to the line with Martin County down 65-59.
Dials sunk the free throw to pull within four.
On a quick throw-in, Dials and Watts double-team the Hawk. Watts picked his pocket and converted for the and-1.
Watts and Davis put the pressure on. Dials snuck through for the steal and went up for the go-ahead basket.
Pike Central would throw the ball away, and Dials would go back to the line. He sunk the free throw to seal the win for the Cards.
Watts put on another performance with 25 points, four rebounds and two steals. He shot 71% from the field.
“Parker can really play,” Martin County head coach Jason “JJ” James said of the transfer. “He scores at all three levels and is a great defender. He’s going to help us tremendously and I’m excited to coach him.”
Davis had 13 points, two rebounds and one steal. The feisty guard was 3-8 from behind the arc.
Dials finished with another well-rounded game with 12 points, three assists, two steals and two rebounds.
Devan Maynard came in to score nine points along with eight rebounds, six assists, three blocks and one steal.
“I thought we played really well at times. I think we will be a fun team to watch. We’re going to play fast, press, and shoot a lot of threes. We’ll be tough to beat,” Coach James said.