by William Trakas

Friday night was one for the ages at Mountain Heritage High School.

The wooden bleachers and brick walls of Mountain Heritage’s orange-lit gym make it either a favorite or a most hated place to play for the visiting teams.

Combine that with an impressive fan base that loves to yell, and you have a noise pit that any team would love to call home.

In the opening period of the varsity boys’ game, it was critical for the Wolverines to match the intensity set by the crowd. They did just that with a spark from senior forward Akeem Anderson.
Anderson grabbed multiple rebounds early, which sparked a run that closed out the first quarter with PCHS leading 15-13.

Quarter number two was a period of runs as the Cougars pushed the lead to 8 points midway through.

But just as the home crowd became confident, the Wolverines stormed back with a 9-0 run of their own after a score board delay in which 6 of the 9 points scored in the run were not put up on the board.

When the dust cleared, the Wolverines enjoyed a 6-point possession and the lead. With 5.2 seconds left before half-time, sophomore Anthony Carson fired a three from the right-wing to break a tie. The Wolverines led 33-30 heading into the locker room.

McEntire’s halftime words were clear: “Don’t let up now, guys, we still have another half to put this thing away.”

The third started out with aggressive play from Cougars player Alex Biggerstaff. Biggerstaff is a consensus D-1 recruit standing at 6-5 with a jump shot that consistently finds the bottom of the net. Though largely held in check in the first half, he was still able to score 22 points.

After a back and forth third, the Cougars enjoyed a 48-44 lead.