BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Bryson Dials scored his 1,000th career point in highlight fashion, leading Martin County (16-7) to a 93-77 win over Paintsville (11-12) at home Feb. 11 to stay unbeaten in 57th District play.
Coach Jason “JJ” James’ Cardinals improved to 6-0 in the 57th District and 9-0 against 15th Region opponents, completing a 3-0 regular-season sweep of the Tigers.
The Paintsville Tigers of coach Landon Slone fell to 1-5 in district play and 6-6 in the region.
Before the action started, Coach James presented junior Braxton Keathley with his 2,000-point ball.
Playing in front of a full house, Martin County struck first when Eli Mills faded to his right for a floater in the paint.
Paintsville answered quickly and found its groove early. A Tiger 3-pointer and back-to-back finishes from Anderson Lauffer helped Paintsville build a 7-2 edge halfway through the opening quarter.
Brayden Marcum sparked the Cardinals with a steal and outlet to Dials, who turned and scored in the lane. Devan Maynard later swung it to Marcum in the corner for a triple to cut it to 9-7.
Paintsville’s Lauffer scored again, then buried a 3-pointer after a Cardinal turnover as the Tigers pushed the margin to 16-7. The Tigers’ Graham Shutts added a jumper and Brock Woods cleaned up a rebound for a putback for a 12-point lead to force a Martin County timeout.
Out of the break, the Cardinals steadied. Marcum deflected another pass and Braxton Keathley came away with it and found Mills on the wing for a trey to close the quarter at 20-11.
Paintsville opened the second with two free throws, but Martin County began chipping into the lead. Keathley attacked the paint and got to the stripe. He then knocked down a long-range shot to answer a Paintsville triple and keep the Cardinals within striking distance.
Maynard jumped a passing lane and hit Dials in stride for a layup to pull the Cards within six.
The pressure kept paying off. Marcum found Keathley on a backdoor cut and the Cardinals trimmed it at the line. Maynard deflected a pass and Keathley cashed in two more free throws to make it 29-26.
Keathley drilled a deep 3 off a Maynard handoff to pull within two. Then Dials danced at the top of the key before getting to the rim to tie it at 31 each.
Coming out of a Tiger timeout, Keathley stepped into another deep 3-pointer for a 34-32 Martin County lead.
With three minutes left in the half, the teams traded punches down the stretch.
Keathley grabbed a rebound and Dials rose above traffic for a finish to make it 36-34. Paintsville tied it again, but Keathley drove and hit both from the stripe. Another Marcum steal helped Martin County take a 38-36 lead into halftime after trailing by as many as 12 in the first.
The Cards came out of the locker room with guns a-blazin’. Mills opened it with a steal and a bounce pass to Dials for a bucket. Then Keathley turned away a shot and Alan Moore helped swing it to Mills at the top for a 3-pointer to make it 43-36.
A Tiger turnover turned into Maynard finding Dials for a shot behind the arc and a 46-36 lead, the Cardinals’ biggest of the night just 90 seconds into the half.
The milestone came immediately out of the timeout. Dials applied full-court pressure, picked off a pass and went in for a layup. With that, Dials heard longtime Cardinals announcer Jack Ward announce his 1,000th career point.
Martin County punished Paintsville for its mistakes. Keathley scored with a strong move off a steal. He followed that by drawing defenders and threading a pass to Alan Moore, who cut to the block for two. After another turnover, Keathley faked the pass and popped a shot from downtown to make it 55-41.
The Tigers made one last push, getting it down to 57-50 on a triple, but Martin County slammed the door. Crisp ball movement led to Dials burying a deep 3-pointer on the wing. Moments later, Keathley, falling in the lane, still found Mills, who quickly swung it back to Dials for another 3 to make it 63-50.
Dials followed with a steal and a full-court dime to Marcum for a layup. Keathley capped the quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play after Moore cleaned up the rebound to give the Cards an 18-point lead heading into the final stanza.
Martin County kept its foot down in the final period. Mills picked up another steal and found Keathley, who faked a shot and lobbed it to Maynard at the rim for a catch-and-finish. Keathley then swiped another pass and scored acrobatically.
Dials had a complete takeover in the final minutes. He scored 14 in a row, floating a shot over two Tigers, then driving through the lane for another finish. When Paintsville trimmed it to 81-68 on a 3-pointer, Dials answered by getting downhill for two. He later converted an and-one fadeaway and followed with an up-and-under as Martin County continued to control the game.
Paintsville made a push to cut it to 90-77 in the final minutes. But Keathley finished an and-one in the closing seconds to cap the scoring.
Dials scored a game-high 36 points to become a 1,000-point career scorer. He connected on 15-of-22 from the floor with four 3-pointers. Dials also stuffed the stat sheet with four rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Keathley matched the tempo all night with a red-hot 35 points. He was lethal at the free-throw line with 11-of-12, and added seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Mills chipped in eight points along with two triples, three assists and four steals. Marcum added five points and flashed brightly on defense with four steals.
Maynard finished with five points and four assists. The senior led Martin County with eight rebounds.
Moore had four points, three rebounds and two assists.
Anderson Lauffer led three Paintsville players in double figures with 25 points. Brock Woods followed with 20 points and Graham Shutts added 15. Preston Slone scored six and Parker Helton flipped in three points for Paintsville. Teammates Andrew Meeks, Kruze Howell, Tucket Hale and Colt Short rounded out the Tigers scoring with two points each.
The Cardinals will host Senior Night on Sunday against Hazard at 6 p.m.