Polk County held their own within the Western Highland Conference leading the Hendersonville Bearcats for most of the first two quarters of their game Friday, Jan. 18.

The game plan seemed to be working with Polk only down 9 points at halftime 38 -29. The Wolverines even cut the lead to 7 points early in the third quarter. But Hendersonville then went on one of its infamous “runs” scoring a season-high 36 points in the third quarter. That drive propelled them to a 97-51 win.

In describing the third quarter scoring binge Coach Josh McEntire explained, “They hit some really tough shots, we were down by 7 and then the next three possessions they hit jump shots with people in their face. (They had) two 3-pointers and a long two. Then during our possessions we missed two lay-ups and two free throws. We missed easy shots and they hit tough shots and that’s what good teams do.”

Although disappointed with the outcome, Coach McEntire said he was overall pleased with the effort.

“We really played hard for the most part. In that third quarter there was no answer, we tried different players, different things to do against them, they just kept hitting shots; guarded shots,” he said. “The one thing we did not do well was block out and that cost us too. Because when they did miss they had somebody to rebound and put it back in. Once the lead got to 20 points it really snowballed from there and went downhill in a hurry.”

Game Stats
Polk 16; 13; 10; 12 = 51
Hendersonville
25; 13; 36; 23 = 97

For Polk County, Anthony Carson had 10 points, four steals and four rebounds. Jamal Tanner had 8 points, seven assists and three steals and Alec Philpott had 9 points. Polk (7-10, 3-4 WHC) will travel to Madison tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 22.