Orioles, Dukes suffer second day losses at PMS Tourney

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

PULASKI – Both Pulaski and Dublin Middle schools continued play on Tuesday at the Pulaski Invitational Preseason Basketball Tournament. Both teams suffered losses to Patrick Henry Middle School on Monday and they would both continue their tumble with two difficult defeats.

Pulaski Middle School opened play for the evening, as they played against Christiansburg Middle School. The Orioles took a strong early lead in the first quarter, 14-8. Logan Alley scored five points for Pulaski Middle and teammate Lonnie Mattox added four points in the lead.

However, Christiansburg would come back to tie the game with a strong second quarter effort, as the two teams went into their respective locker room’s knotted up at 24-24.

When the two teams resumed play in the third quarter, the Demons managed to pull away. The Orioles would struggle with ball control and Christiansburg Middle School continued to build their momentum, taking a small 39-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

Tyler Blevins, along with Alley, failed to let their team fall away from the game. The two combined for 14 of the Orioles 19 points in the fourth quarter. With just under two minutes remaining, Pulaski Middle would close to within 45-42.

However, Christiansburg would continue to score in the final minutes and the Orioles just couldn’t catch up, as three points would be as close as they would get. Christiansburg would win the game, 53-49.

Alley led the Orioles in scoring with 18 points, while Blevins added 13. Lonnie Mattox had 10 points as well.

“We definitely played better than we did last night against Patrick Henry,” said Orioles coach Daniel Goff. “I thought our defense played really well. We are still inexperienced. Our big men are getting lose underneath and losing their man. If we can turn up the defensive intensity, I think we can win some ball games.”

Dublin would play familiar foe Fort Chiswell Middle, who the Dukes played last week in a two-point contest. That game went in favor of Dublin, but Fort Chiswell looked for revenge in a victory over the Dukes.

The Pioneers came out like they had revenge on their minds. They held the Dukes to just four points in the quarter and took a small 8-4 lead after one quarter. The two teams remained fairly even in the second, but the Pioneers would extend their lead by one point, 15-10, heading into halftime.

The two teams played furiously in the second half, as both teams played some high scoring fast break basketball. Both of them would exchange end to end baskets, leading to a large scoring second half.

However, the Pioneers wouldn’t let the Dukes get them, despite the massive pressure being applied on the press, and the five point lead that they held at halftime proved to be a big difference in the game. The Pioneers would win the game, 40-33.

Dublin was led by Marcus Johnston, who had 10 points. Teammate Zack Bradley added 9 points in the loss.

“We started off slow,” said Dukes coach Richard Lewis. “We weren’t playing very good defense. We weren’t running the offense. There were too many turnovers and we just got ourselves into a hole that we just couldn’t quite catch up to. We played better in the second half, but we just dug a hole and we couldn’t quite catch up. We really played hard in the second half, but just couldn’t catch up.”

The Orioles will play again tomorrow at 4 pm against the same Fort Chiswell team. The night cap of the tournament tomorrow will be Radford Middle School against Christiansburg Middle.

“Tomorrow’s game is going to be tough,” Goff said. “Fort Chiswell always has a physical team. We are going to have to match their intensity and physicality. If we don’t do that, we will lose again tomorrow night. I’ve been telling the kids to get better every game, improve every game, and improve every practice. That’s all I can ask.”

The Dukes are finished with play in the tournament until Saturday, when they play against Christiansburg at 12 pm, Radford at 2 pm, and Pulaski at 4 pm.

(11-12-09)