By Stephen Smoot
As wins go, chalk this one up as one that Wildcat aficionados will be talking about for a long time.
Pendleton County spent December and January forcing other teams to question themselves. In the past two weeks, however, some games saw themselves looking for answers. Legs started to appear tired. The grind of a long season ran into some of the toughest opponents the team faced all year.
Who knew that the “get right” game would be against the toughest of all, an unforgiving Class AA rival who ranked in their category about where the Wildcats do in theirs?
The Wildcats opened the game looking sharper and more rested than they had in a few weeks. Even though the Vikings secured the opening tip, the Wildcats took the opening score with Chase Owens confidently draining a three-point bucket. That would be his first of a 33-point night. The Vikings swiftly answered with their own at the 6:45 point, but Jayden Hess put his team back up 6-3 with his first basket.
A Viking 15-foot jump shot was matched by Hess hitting a turnaround jumper 10 feet away from the basket for an 8-5 advantage that Petersburg negated when they tied the game with a three with five minutes left in the first quarter. In essence, these first three minutes served as a microcosm for the game. Pendleton County edges ahead, Petersburg never falls far behind and keeps battling.
Each team gave its best in this game, both in terms of effort and execution. As coaches say, neither side left anything on the floor.
Petersburg’s defenders frantically tried to deny Owens even possession of the ball, but to no avail. At 3:05 another three from him pushed the lead to 13-8. He hit another at the 1:26 mark to give the Wildcats an eight-point lead, but the Vikings surged at the end of the quarter with a nine to three run, coming to within 22-20.
Pendleton County held a slim edge through the second until the four minute mark. Up 31-28, the Wildcats got a layup from Cashton Kisamore. Then Travis Owens sailed toward the basket and whipped a pass to Chase Owens in the corner for another three. At the three minute point, Henry Warner tossed a pass to Chase Owens, who scored from foul line extended. Suddenly, Pendleton County owned a 10-point lead.
Petersburg cut that to five, but a Warner steal led to a Travis Owens two handed dunk and a seven-point lead the home team took into the half.
Each team made a halftime adjustment. Petersburg worked even harder to deny Chase Owens the ball. That set well with Pendleton County, because Josh Owens, head coach, had his team focus on getting the ball inside to Kisamore to open the second half. Warner also benefited down the stretch from the attention paid to the Wildcat leading scorer.
The half opened with Kisamore slipping inside his defender at the foul line, then taking a leading pass from Hess that he scored. The Vikings scored at the other end, so Kisamore executed a nifty post to post reverse layup, giving his team a 46-39 advantage at 6:35.
Petersburg played its best when the home team backed them up against the wall. They always found a way to survive Wildcat surges and get back into the game. They took a brief lead late in the third, but at 2:22 Warner rebounded his own miss and took it in for a shot jump shot, giving his team the lead back 52-51.
Kisamore scored a layup shortly after. Then Hess worked his way off of two Kisamore picks, then dished the ball back to Chase Owens, whose three gave the Wildcats a six-point lead just a little over a minute after giving that up for the first time in the game.
At 45 seconds, Hess and Warner ran a little give and go that ended with Warner hitting an off-balance hook shot for a 59-54 lead. Hess then found Warner again for a buzzer beating three.
That would not be the last time Warner accomplished that feat on the night.
Cameron Wyatt cooly opened the fourth with a three-point shot that set the score at 67-59. From this point on, Pendleton County and Petersburg mostly defended each other in man to man.
As the fourth quarter came to its midpoint, Petersburg adjusted again. They aggressively attacked the passing lanes to force turnovers as the Wildcats appeared to tire. From Chase Owens’ three at 4:05 until the 3:08 point tin the fourth, the Vikings turned a six-point deficit into a 79-74 lead.
Did the Wildcats have anything left in the tank?
At 1:11, Chase Owens hit a basket to pull his team to within one point. Pendleton County battled during the next 50 seconds just to get an opportunity to get a good shot, but at 11.7 seconds, the Vikings hit two free throws for a three-point lead. Warner, however, with two seconds left, got the ball, took a lateral dribble, and arced a shot that hit the rim, ricocheted two feet straight up in the air . . . then dropped in the basket to tie the game at the buzzer.
The four minute overtime saw the shellshocked Petersburg squad give up six points off a Warner drive and layup, a Warner 10-foot shot off a Hess pass, then a Hess basket on a baseline drive at the three minute point. Kisamore extended the lead to 91-85 with two minutes left, but the visitors were not quite done in yet.
Petersburg pulled the game close with 28 seconds left, coming to within two at 96-94. Kisamore hit two free throws at the 27 second point, but Petersburg scored another short shot at 20 seconds. Up 98-96, Pendleton County got one free throw from Kisamore to make it a three-point game.
Then with time running out, Petersburg missed and fouled Chase Owens with two seconds left. It was more than fitting that he played the ice man, sank two free throws, and ended the game thus only seconds before the buzzer, 101-96.
Five Wildcats scored in double figures in the game. After Chase Owens’ 33 came Kisamore with 22, Warner with 18, Travis Owens 13 and Hess 10. Wyatt scored five, but was perfect from the field.
The refreshing and encouraging statistic came in the assist category, the one which had suffered somewhat in recent weeks. Hess racked up 14 of these on the night, followed by Chase Owens with seven and Travis Owens with five. Kisamore hauled in 12 rebounds, Warner nine.
Pendleton County now has more “home” work to do to achieve their goal of a Charleston trip. Should they defeat Pocahontas County at home today, the most likely opponent will be the always-dangerous Tucker County Mountain Lions.
Regardless, however, of the opponent, two wins and the Wildcats get in.
