Coverage of Pickett County athletics presented in part by Keisling Insurance.
The Cookeville Cavalier’s got their first win of the high school basketball season with a 67-64 win at Pickett County on Saturday.
The Cavs (1-1) erased a second half deficit to knock off the Bobcats (1-1) on the road.
“We gritted one out in the end,” said CHS head coach Josh Heard. “(PCHS) played extremely hard, without their best player. Shout out to them. They made shots and forced us into things we don’t normally do. I’m happy all-in-all coming out with a win and being able to play games like this early. This is an awesome lesson for us.”
“Cookeville’s really good,” said PCHS head coach Joseph Amonett. “I’m proud of my team. I thought we rebounded. I thought we competed. We shot the ball well and we played an entertaining style. We had less room for error… and we just had a few mistakes late that we didn’t have room to make.”
The Cavs raced out to an 11-0 lead in the opening 1:30 of the game before the Bobcats, who opened the season with a forfeit win over Oneida and were playing without senior star Zach Amonett, got on the board with a jumper by Heath Wattenbarger to end the run. The Cavs took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter.
The Cavs lost sophomore point guard Dontae Potts-Heard to a shoulder injury in the first quarter.
The Bobcats opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 24-22 lead. The two teams then traded baskets down the stretch, with Will Amonett and Hunter Wattenbarger making threes in the final minute to give PCHS a 36-33 lead at halftime.
The Bobcats extended their lead in the third quarter as Caleb Lowhorn made a basket to give PCHS a 49-43 lead after three.
The CHS offense came alive in the fourth quarter as sophomore Josh Heard tallied 10 points in the frame, and DJ Potts-Heard made back-to-back triples to give the Cavs a lead. Each team struggled to make free throws in the final minutes, but Josh Heard made two with 5.1 seconds remaining and Windle Oakley added two more moments later to secure the victory.
“We’ve never had everyone healthy to practice,” said coach Heard when asked about how his team is finding roles with several new faces. “We’ve been missing four or five kids, and today we add another one. It’s been tough for us because we can’t have consistent practice with a group of guys, but that’s not an excuse for them. Our defense has to be better. We have the athletes to play defense like we’re supposed to play.”
Josh Heard and DJ Potts-Heard each tallied 22 points for the Cavs in the win.
Hunter Wattenbarger tallied 20 points for the Bobcats. Will Amonett added 19 and Jacob Amonett scored 17.
“I thought they all stepped up and scored like we needed them to,” said coach Amonett. “When Zach gets back… that gives us four very explosive perimeter players that makes us really hard to guard.”
The Cavs will be back in action Tuesday when they host Knoxville Catholic. The Bobcats will return to the floor Friday for their Thanksgiving Classic.
