With the EKC championship title on the line Thursday night, the rivalry between East and West Carter upped the stakes. Both teams came in with high hopes and a great start to their seasons, but the Raiders came out with the 62-52 victory.
East jumped out to an early 16-8 lead in the first quarter, which proved to be West’s undoing.
“East did a great job getting the ball to Colt (Barnhill) down in the post,” Comets’ Head Coach Jeremy Webb said. “He is a good caliber player and they wanted to get him as many touches as possible. It is difficult to come from behind on a team like East.”
Barnhill was the game’s leading player with a double-double 30 points and 13 rebounds. West’s Aaron Rayburn put up 18 points to lead the Comets in scoring. Dylan Genung (East) and Harrison Bond (West) were the only other players with double digits, sinking 10 each.
The Raiders showed their strength at the foul line, shooting 80-percent while West successfully hit 59-percent. The Comets shot 44-percent from the field and East hit 54-percent. The Raiders were 0-for-6 from the perimeter, while West shot 40-percent.
“We came in wanting to go inside and take advantage of our size with Colt,” East Head Coach Brandon Baker said. “We put emphasis on playing inside out. Offensively through we found him (Colt) in good situations where he could shoot, just because of his size down low.”
Both teams came in mentally prepared to play, but East’s experience showed on the floor.
“We have a young team,” Webb said. “Sometimes they show nerves or make plays that leave you shaking your head, but I thought they responded fairly competitively for the night.”
The Comets bounced back from Thursday’s loss with a win at Lawrence County Friday night, 66-59.
West jumped out to an early 20-14 lead in the first and refused to look back, leading by 14 at the half. The Bulldogs outscored West 15-10 in the third and 19-17 in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Comets.
“It was the first home game of the season for them,” Webb said. “It was a very fun and exciting atmosphere. It was good to see our kids bounce back from getting beat the night before.”
Freshman Kyle Brown led West in scoring with 21 points, a welcome change after East Carter held him to no looks on Thursday. Derrick Lawson put up 13 points and Justin Jarrell had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
West improved to nearly 61-percent from the charity stripe and 45-percent from the field. The Comets went 6-for-17 in three points range.
The Comets played host to Menifee County Tuesday (after press time).
“They average about 83 points per game,” Webb said in a pre-game interview. “They like to push the pace and get up and down the floor. We will have to come out playing extremely well and be prepared for them.”
The Comets hit the road Friday to face Boyd County. Tip off for the match up is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Raiders were also in action Tuesday night when they played host to Greenup County.
“They can give us a lot of trouble, especially with perimeter play,” Baker said. “We are going to have top make sure we are open before we shoot. They haven’t had good start, but they are very capable and could use us to propel them into their season. Once their talent lights up, they could be very good.”
East plays host to Lewis County on Thursday for the second match up of these two teams this season.
“It’s going to be another competitive match up,” Baker said. “We can’t go in thinking that just because we won last week that we will win again. They are going to have some added incentives to redeem themselves.”
Tip off on Thursday is set for 7:30 p.m.
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