Polk and Mitchell took to the basketball court on a cold Tuesday night in Columbus and lit up a barnburner of a contest, won by the Wolverines 59-54.
“I just told them that this is their team, and theyve really picked it up,” said Craig Culbreth, Polk Countys head coach.
Culbreth added that he was pleased with his teams improvement in handling the ball, and especially shooting from all areas of the floor.
Andre Overholt fouled out with less than a minute to go, with the Wolverines up by five points.
He had been assessed a technical earlier in the game that added an extra foul to his total, but his shooting from beyond the arc was a big reason for the Wolverines win.
Polk Countys shooters were all on from deep with Shawn Gary, Landon Schlabach, Chandler Miller and Overholt connecting.
Mitchell, on the other hand, seemed to be as cold as the wintry mix left from the weekends snowstorm.
The last lead that the Mountaineers could find was at 41-40 to end the third quarter.
They hit a late 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three points, at which point Miller and Gary hit a pair of free throws to push it back to five with 32 seconds remaining.
Overholt gave his team its first lead after a 3-pointer and two subsequent free throws in the waning seconds of the first half and the buzzer sounded at 28-27.
Fidal Wilkins had a good game offensively, and was clutch from the stripe. He and Bryant Twitty did their best to contain a strong Mitchell frontcourt.
“Were looking forward to getting going again after Christmas,” said coach Cuibreth.