Clarke survives in OT

December 7, 2011
By Greg Brill
Special to The Winchester Star

BERRYVILLE- This kind of game was a character builder for Clarke County.

The Eagles outlasted James Wood 96-91 in overtime on Tuesday night, scoring 65 points in the second half and putting three players in double-digit scoring.

Davey Hardesty, who scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, said teamwork was key to the Eagles (1-2) winning for the first time this season.

Todd Benton added 24 points and 12 rebounds for Clarke County and Ethan Emmart scored 22 to go with eight rebounds.

"I think we all kind of pulled together as a team," said Hardesty, who also had 11 rebounds and eight steals. "We didn't have someone trying to do it all. We all kind of played off each other.

"The game was so fast [paced] and we were going up and down. We just tried to pull it out."

James Wood (0-2) spent much of the game throwing up shots from 3-point range. The Colonels had eight different players make shots from behind the arc and finished shooting 16 for 50 on 3-pointers.

Nick Foura had 14 points for James Wood, Chad Potter had 12 before fouling out in overtime, and Michael Carter added 13 points.

The Colonels stayed fresh most of the game by subbing a new group of five players just about every other dead ball possession.

The Colonels got off and running and pressured the Eagles into many rushed shots and turnovers until late in the game.

Clarke County pulled through, despite being guilty of 37 turnovers.

The pace also hit James Wood just as much, with the Colonels turning the ball over 36 times.

"It was probably the first game I've coached in 16 years that we didn't run one play," Clarke County coach Brent Emmart said. "The only play we ran [came off] out of bounds plays." The Eagles trailed 38-31 at the half, but outscored the Colonels 28-17 in the third period to take command.

Clarke County gained confidence with a 15-0 run in the period and got points from six players during its turnaround.

Benton scored 10 points in the third, Ethan Emmart had seven, and Hardesty six.

James Wood continued to drain shots from long-range in the fourth, knocking down five 3-pointers. The Eagles led by six points with just over two minutes left, but a pair of 3-pointers by Potter keyed a 6-2 spurt that brought the Colonels back to trail 82-80 with 1:06 left.

The Colonels still trailed by that margin with only seconds remaining. After a timeout, with four seconds left, James Wood's Ryland Williams received the inbounds pass and drove right to the basket for a layup to beat the buzzer and send the game into overtime.

"When that kid hit the shot to send it to overtime, we dropped our heads," Brent Emmart said. "It was easy then to pack it in because of the momentum, but our guys kind of manned up and they found a way to pull one out.

"If you were a spectator, besides being here forever [the game took two hours and five minutes to play], it was a fun game to watch.

"Instead of walking the ball up the floor, it was straight chaos. That's what it was."

The game remained tight in the extra period, but each time the Colonels hit a big shot, the Eagles rushed down and countered.

On three straight baskets by Clarke County, cutters got behind the defense for scores. Ethan Emmart made the first two baskets before Benton scored off a layup with 24 seconds left for a 92-91 lead.

The Colonels came down and Cam Butler missed a runner with 14 seconds left. Hardesty rebounded, and was fouled with 12 seconds left.

Hardesty made both of his free throws for a three-point lead. After a James Wood timeout, the Colonels threw a high inbounds pass to their bench side, which resulted in a turnover with five seconds left.

Hardesty (12 of 14 from the line)was fouled again and he clinched things with two more free throws.