COLONELS DOWN JACKETS

 The Whitley County Colonels surprised the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets with their second win over their arch-rivals at Lawson Gym Tuesday night, 58-52.

The Colonels were able to up their season record to 4-17 and 2-3 in district play with a game remaining to be played at Corbin, Feb. 3.

Whitley County was able to pull out the win from the free throw line where Zach Rutherford hit four straight free throws in the final 21 seconds to hold off the Yellow Jackets.

“Zach hit some clutch free throws at the end of the game,” Whitley County Coach Jerry Overbey said.

“We had a game plan and they did an excellent job of executing it,” added Overbey.

Williamsburg (11-11) came out on fire as the Yellow Jackets scored seven of the first nine points to take a 7-2 lead in the game. 

After Whitley County’s Mathew Lawson hit a pair of free throws to put the Colonels ahead, 2-0 Williamsburg Freshman Skylar Griffith hit a 3-pointer and followed with a two-point basket. Smoak then went inside for a basket and the Jackets were up by five.

Senior Josh Couch drilled a 3-pointer and Michael Powers scored with 4:45 to tie  the game at 7-7.

The battle was on from that point on. Whitley County took a 16-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The teams played a tight defense in the second quarter  as only seven points were scored by each team, allowing the Colonels to go in at the half ahead, 23-21.

Whitley County stretched its lead out to six in the third quarter only to see the Jackets fight back and cut the lead to one, 41-40 entering the final frame.

Williamsburg took a one-point lead to start the fourth quarter on a basket by Corey Shelton, but the Colonels quickly regained the lead for good on a basket by Powers.

Four players scored in double figures for the Colonels with Lawson leading the way with 14 points. Couch and Petrey added 13 points each while Rutherford finished with 12 points.

Williamsburg was led by sophomore Dalton Sizemore with 21 points followed by Griffith with 18 points.

Leading scorer Jared Barton was held to one while Powers was limited to six for the Colonels.

Whitley Co. 58, Williamsburg 52

Williamsburg  14  7  19  12- 52

Whitley Co.    16  7  18  17- 58

   Williamsburg (52) – Griffith 18, Barton 1, Sizemore 21, Smoak 6, Bowlin 2, Shelton 3, Andrew Griffith 1.

   Whitley Co. (58) – Couch 13, Powers 6, Lawson 14, Petrey 13, Z. Rutherford 12.