Published: January 07, 2009 12:06 am      

Elliott fends off West

OLIVE HILL — Jonathan Ferguson wasn’t worried.

The Elliott County senior guard showed no concern when his Lions were tied with West Carter after three quarters Tuesday. With good reason – his 21 points led the 16th Region favorite a 77-65 win at John “Hop” Brown Court.

Elliott County outrebounded the Comets, 38-31, and outscored West, 22-10, in the fourth quarter. The Lions also won their 16th straight game against 16th Region foes since falling to Rose Hill in last year’s Touchstone Energy All “A” regional finale.

“I mean it was a close game, yeah, but I figured we’d pull it out in the end,” Ferguson said. “We just keep pushing and pushing.”

West Carter is The Independent’s No. 2 team, but Tuesday’s bottom line was a case of the final score not telling an accurate story.

There were 12 lead changes and seven ties, and West Carter (11-3) tied the game at 20-20 after one quarter, trailed by just 36-35 at halftime and it was 55-all after 24 minutes.

“We’re an experienced team, we know how to win close games,” Elliott County senior guard Evan Faulkner said. “We’ve been in that situation many, many times before. You’ve got to tip your hat to West Carter; they played very well, they’re an underrated basketball team.”

Senior guard Ethan Faulkner was Elliott County’s second-highest scorer with 16 points, followed by senior Chris Knipp with 15 and Evan Faulkner with 13.

Regardless of Tuesday’s result, West Carter is having a memorable season. Its 11-3 record is the best start since the at least the mid-1990s, when coach Jeremy Webb was the Comets’ shining star.

“That’s to our players’ credit,” Webb said. “We have a bunch of kids that are tough, hard-nosed, gritty and good basketball players. They understand the game, they know how to play the game; that’s what we love about them.”

West’s main goal this year was to speed up its offense and hopefully erase the memory of two straight sub-.500 seasons, and indeed you could have gotten neck cramps watching Tuesday’ first quarter.

For every 3-pointer the Lions’ Timmy Knipp, Chris Knipp and Ferguson threw in (they combined for four), the Comets countered with long shots from Aaron Rayburn and Taylor Webb.

Rayburn led the Comets with 20 points.

Elliott County pulled away to 29-22 three minutes into the second quarter on a 7-2 run led by senior Evan Faulkner’s four points. West countered with a 13-7 streak over the final 5:03 of the half.

Elliott County coach Rick Mays had a feeling it would not be an easy night.

“We’re a little bit impatient sometimes,” Mays said. “We try to do things a little bit too quick. Maybe this will help us get re-focused.”

The Lions led 50-44 halfway through the third quarter thanks to senior B.A. Oney’s two free throws. He finished with 15 points and four assists.

Elliott County’s experience, however, wore out the Comets in the end – West went nearly three minutes without a point twice in the fourth quarter and committed 17 turnovers for the night.

“That’s what I said all year,” Mays said. “Our defense is our offense.”