Oriole boys, Dublin girls win games

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

After both the boy’s and girl’s middle school teams from Pulaski and Dublin had played all day in their respective tournaments, each brought the competition to a close with the renewal of the classic Orioles-Dukes cross-town rivalry.

Both of the boy’s teams played at Pulaski Middle School. It was Pulaski’s first contest since opening the tournament against Radford earlier that day, while Dublin had just played two games prior.

“I was worried that the kids were going to come out lackadaisical since we had the early game this morning and didn’t play all day since then,” said Orioles coach Daniel Goff. “Dublin’s players got to take a break before the game and got a chance to rest their starters. I told my guys at the beginning that they are going to come out fired up. Our boys played well, played good, and we showed our speed here tonight.”

That time off proved to be an aid for the Orioles, as they would start out strong in the first quarter. Lonnie Mattox scored six in the quarter and teammate Logan Alley added five points, as Pulaski took a big 14-4 lead after one quarter. The Orioles continued pressure defensively and kept the Dukes at bay in the second. They would equal their point total from the first quarter and only allowed Dublin to score seven points. Pulaski took a 24-11 halftime lead.

Coming out of halftime, Mattox would take over the game. He would score at will against the Duke defense, driving the length of the quarter for scores. Mattox would have six points in the quarter, as the Oriole lead swelled to 45-20.

“This game really showed Lonnie’s speed,” Goff said. “We hadn’t seen it all year until this game. He was in the zone and reading the defense. He knew where they were going to pass the ball and was in the passing lanes. He showed his speed up and down the floor. He took the game over at one point.”

In the end, the Pulaski advantage would be too much to overcome, as the Orioles finished undefeated (2-0) on the day and took a win from their rivals, 51-26. Mattox finished with 12 points, Tyler Blevins added 11, and Logan Alley score six points.

“I told the kids Monday and Tuesday that they looked like a totally different team from Wednesday and the two games today,” Goff said. “We didn’t even look like the same team. My expectations were so high coming in the first two games that I said ‘Are they as good as I thought they were?’. They really showed today how they can play defense and score the ball. I can’t stress how good we were defensively in both games today, as far as getting help side. The boys did it.”

Dublin coach Richard Lewis declined comment on the game and tournament.

Pulaski also won their first game of the tournament, defeating Radford in an extremely close contest, 44-41. Blevins and Alley scored 14 points each in that game and Mattox added 10 points.

Dublin’s lone win in the day’s tournament came against Christiansburg, when they won 41-28. Zack Bradley had 11 points and Kareem Calfee 8 points.

Patrick Henry finished the tournament an impressive 3-0, with wins over Radford (56-33), Ft. Chiswell (66-31), and Christiansburg (39-37). Overall, the Patriots went undefeated throughout the week. Both Radford and Dublin finished 1-2 in the tournament, Ft. Chiswell was 1-1, and Christiansburg was 0-3.

The girl’s tournament concluded with the second Dublin-Pulaski contest of the day. However, the Dukes would even up the score between the two schools with a 50-25 win over Pulaski.

“I think our girls played extremely well considering we had some struggles earlier today,” said Dublin coach Nicholle Douglas. “Pulaski came out and showed a great effort. I was excited about that. In the end, our girls pulled it together and then started listening more. They really did a great job.”

“I think we started out strong on defense, which helped us in our first game against Fort Chiswell,” said Pulaski coach Teresa Taylor. “This morning was a little rough. We didn’t play aggressively and missed some shots. I was proud of them for tonight because they were playing aggressive and going after the ball. We just have to improve on a few things and come back to play Dublin later on this season.”

Meredith Mitchell scored 23 points in the game for the Dukes, while teammate Chelsea Golden pitched in 10 points. Tyra Redd scored 17 points for the Orioles.

Dublin finished the girl’s tournament at 1-1, while the Orioles were 0-3. Floyd County was the most impressive team from the girl’s tournament, as they finished 3-0. They had dominating victories over Dublin (56-27), Ft. Chiswell (52-9), and Radford (58-10).
Also finishing 3-0 was Clifton Middle School, who won against Pulaski (23-11), Christiansburg (31-11), and Ft. Chiswell (24-9). Graham finished at 2-0 overall, followed by Christiansburg at 1-1. Both Radford (0-2) and Ft. Chiswell (0-3) were winless.
Throughout the week, Taylor has seen a lot of change from her squad, both individually and how they have functioned together as a unit.

“We’ve definitely come closer as a team,” Taylor said. “They have really learned to work together. They have worked on their individual skills. We did better scoring tonight than we’ve done so far. This has been our first look and we start our first game on Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see how we do.”

Overall, Douglas was pleased with the entire experience of the tournament, but hopes that there is room for expansion in the near future.

“The tournament is just such an awesome things for these girls to come from all over the place,” Douglas said. “I wish we could have more teams come. It is a good experience. I’m really happy with the turnout. I hope the fans for happy with it too.”

(11-19-09)