Feb. 13, 2013 — The West Carter Boys Basketball team has played much better down the stretch after starting the season 1-12.
However, the Comets suffered a setback at the hands of the Lewis County 58-45 Friday night in Olive Hill.
“We did not come out focused,” said senior Kyle Brown. “We missed a lot of shots and we did not play very good defense.”
Brown scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while Dustin Black scored 12 points. Brown said West could not knock down big shots down the stretch, shooting 34.8 percent from the field, as opposed to Lewis shooting 47.4 percent.
“We had some open looks,” Webb said. “They were sagging in so hard and trying to take our dribble penetration away. When we got our open looks, we just didn’t knock them down. We were off balance on our shots.”
West overcame an 11-point deficit in the first quarter, using an 11-0 run to a 14-11 lead on a Jacob Layne basket. But the Lions quietly kept West from establishing any offensive rhythm.
“They did a very good job defensively,” Webb said. “They’re physical and quick and they kept in front of our guys and that is a credit to them.”
Any time West would get a basket, Lewis would match it. Lewis senior Brett Ruckel led all scorers with 27 points, going 7-of-13 from the field and 11-for-13 from the line.
“He was very good off the dribble,” Webb said. “He made some tough contested shots and converted them.”
With the district tournament beginning next week, Webb knows the time is now to put everything together to make a run in the postseason.
“We’re going to continue to look and get ourselves better,” Webb said. “We’re not looking ahead but we have to continue to work in practice and in every game to try to improve ourselves.”
West Carter (8-16) hit the road Tuesday night against Ashland. They will return home Thursday night against Rowan County.
MacKenzie Bates can be reached at mbates@journal-times.com or by telephone at 1-800-247-6142.
