BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Martin County High School boys basketball team hosted seven teams and 15 games over a span of two days.

Coach Jason James coordinated the event, and if his Cardinals’ performance this week is any indication, Martin County is looking at an exciting season of boys basketball.

The games were two 20-minute running halves with the clock stopping the last two minutes of each.

Coach James continued splitting his varsity into two different squads. His “Red’ team opened the shootout June 8 against Betsy Layne, and Luke Hale was hitting right out of the gate.

Luke Hale went off in the first 10 minutes of play, hitting six threes. With a drive to the rim, Hale converted an and-one. Hale fired up 30 for 41 of his team’s first-half points.

Matt Linville, Jacob Sturgell and Devan Maynard were forces in the paint. Linville and Maynard had three and two blocks, respectively. Sturgill pulled down five rebounds to go with his 16 points. Dray Duff provided a spark with two treys from behind the arc.

Four minutes showed on the clock, and the Cards were up 64-62. Coach James put his team in a full-court press, and over the next minute and a half, the boys forced five turnovers to go on a 10-0 run. Betsy Layne would only put four more on the scoreboard to finish the game at 82-66, a Cardinals win.

Hale scored 36 points and hit eight from downtown. Linville was close to a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds to go with his three blocks, while Maynard scored 10.