Dec 28, 2007
| West Henderson's Buddy Hutchinson grabs the pass over Carolina Day's Leo Cashin on Thursday during the West Henderson Christmas Tournament Doubleheader at West. MIKE DIRKS/TIMES-NEWS |  |
By Dean Hensley
Times-News Staff Writer
Two days after Christmas, West Henderson's boys basketball team appeared a little sluggish at the start of Thursday night's game against Carolina Day in the West Henderson Christmas Tournament Doubleheader.But the Falcons got back to their pre-Christmas break form in the second quarter, going on a brutal 24-2 run to eventually pull away from the Wildcats by a final score of 72-55.Prior to that was the game of the night, featuring two undefeated boys teams -- Smoky Mountain and North Buncombe. Martin Davis poured in 22 points, and Cort Smith added 16 as the Cougars pummeled the Blackhawks 79-59.Smoky Mountain improves to 10-0 and will take on Carolina Day (4-5) at 7 p.m. tonight at West, while North Buncombe drops to 11-1 and will face the host Falcons in the nightcap at 8:30."(Smoky Mountain) Coach (Jimmy) Cleveland is a great friend of mine, but I'll probably have to choke him now, I guess," West boys coach Rob Bliss said. "Because now we are going to be facing an angry North Buncombe team."The West-Carolina Day game featured two of the best shooting guards in the area -- the Falcons' Zach Corliss and the Wildcats' Evan Salzano. Each led their teams with 28 points apiece, but in the end, the Falcons had a stronger supporting cast.Dallas Ducote was a force in the paint for West, and was a rebound away from a double double with 15 points and nine rebounds.After Carolina Day jumped out to a 27-16 lead in the first 11 minutes, Corliss went to work. He had seven quick points, including a 3-pointer, and two easy jumpers following steals to cut the lead to 27-23 at the 3:58 mark.The Falcons' trapping defense forced another Wildcat turnover, and West capitalized with another easy bucket by Chris Barbour.Corliss then took a charge from Carolina Day's Jake Stanley to give West the ball back and a chance to tie the game, and the Falcons did just that thanks to Daniel Hyatt. After a Corliss miss, Hyatt boxed out to get the easy rebound and put back to make it 27-27 with 2:55 left in the first half. He ended the night with seven boards.The Falcons added 13 more points, including 3-pointers by Corliss and Buddy Hutchison (13 points), to take a commanding 40-29 lead. At the break they led 42-31."In the first quarter there, it looked like we were still on break. But once Zach knocked down his shots in the second quarter, we got going, and we just ended up wearing them down," Bliss said. "But you have to give Carolina Day all the credit in the world. They could've easily let this become a blowout, but they kept battling until the end."The Wildcats did cut the lead to five in the closing minutes of the third period after Stanley (14 points) had a driving layup to make it 48-43, but they couldn't get any closer.West went on a quick 10-0 spurt that included two quick jumpers by Chris Staggs as the Falcon bench erupted."It was great to see the bench players put in some quality minutes for us. We were all really happy to see Chris knock down those shots," Bliss said.The tournament continues today with West's girls facing North Buncombe in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. The Smoky Mountain-Carolina Day boys and the West-North Buncombe boys will follow.SummaryCAROLINA DAY (55) -- Salzano 28, Bartsch 3, Stanley 14, Kuehne 4, Casain 2, Davidson 4, Wood, Jaben, Burt, Morrow.WEST HENDERSON (72) -- Corliss 28, Hutchison 13, Ducote 15, Hyatt 6, James 4, Staggs 4, Barbour 2, Thelan, Roberts, Troutman, Thomas.Haltime: West, 42-31.
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