Corbin dumps Cawood

Experience pays off in the long run. Just ask Corbin coach Tony Pietrowski. At the end of Tuesday night’s battle with Cawood, he had several veteran players on the floor in a 68-65 win.
With the score 66-65, sophomore Josh Crawford hit one of two from the line with :23 seconds remaining. Then after wide-open three point miss by Cawood senior, Mikey Hensley with ten seconds on the clock, Josh Hamlin grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 7.4 ticks left. The Corbin senior hit the first but missed the second.
Cawood rebounded and called a time-out with 4.9 showing on the Gilliam Gym scoreboard.
It was obvious that junior Adam Rhymer was going to take the final shot from three point range. Rhymer’s attempt hit the lip of the rim and rolled off, giving the Redhounds a hard fought win.
“We knew coming in that they were going to be bigger and stronger than us,” said Pietrowski. “We thought we had to make it an up and down game which we did at times.”
“In the first half it was one and done for us,” he said.
The Redhounds (3-0) fell behind 4-0 but caught the Trojans (1-2) when Madison Johnson hit a three pointer. The freshman finished with a game high 24 points.
But, Cawood used their big physical game to go to the inside and take a 16-10 lead before Lee Crawford’s basket at the close of the first quarter saw the Redhounds trail at the end of one, 16-12.
Corbin pushed the ball up and down the court in the second quarter but the Trojans held their own and led at the half, 34-33. Corbin had the lead just once in the period when it led 20-18 after a three pointer by Hamlin and a steal and lay-in by Johnson.
However, back to back long balls by Rhymer and Gary Lee put the visitors ahead to stay in the second quarter.
Back to back baskets at the start of the third quarter saw the Trojans take a 38-33 lead before the ‘Hounds went on a 11-0 run.
Johnson had three baskets, including a three point goal in the spree while Josh Crawford and Clayton Sewell scored in the paint. It was Sewell’s basket at the 6:09 mark that put the Redhounds ahead for good.
Corbin pushed the lead out to eight (48-40) on a jumper by Josh Crawford and a drive down the lane by Josh Smith.
“We never could gap them or put them away,” said Pietrowski. “We got up by six, got up by eight but could never stretch that into a 10-12 point lead where I think we would have felt a little more comfortable.”
“Take your hats off to them, they could have laid down, they had the long trip and just lost last week to Barbourville,’ added Pietrowski. “Coach (Anthony) Nolan does a good great job with those kids and they showed it out there tonight,” Pietrowski said.
The Redhounds tried to push the lead into double digits when Smith went to the line with Corbin ahead, 59-51. He missed the first but hit the second for a nine-point cushion.
Still ahead 66-59 when Johnson hit one of two from the line with 3:07 left, the Redhounds went cold. They failed to score again from the floor and hit just two of six from the line.
Rhymer took over, scoring 10 of Cawood’s final 14 points.
He hit a pair of free throws at the 2:59 mark, then stole the ball on the inbounds play and hit Hensley with the pass for two points.
The Trojans pulled within one (66-65) on Lee’s rebound basket, but Crawford and Hamlin netted free throws to push the lead back out to three.
Josh Crawford finished with 12 points but Pietrowski said the sophomore is still nursing a sore knee.
“Josh’s knee is still not at 100 percent,” said Pietrowski. “We’re trying to get him back as good as we can. Do you practice him so that he can get in the flow of the game or do you sit to let it rest?
“If it takes sitting him out that’s what we will do,” said Pietrowski.

Corbin 68, Cawood 65
Cawood 16 18 12 19- 65
Corbin 12 21 19 16- 68
Cawood (65) – Hensley 4, Farmer 8, Caldwell 8, Rhymer 21, Howard 3, Lee 14, Nolan 7.
Corbin (68) – Hamlin 7, Barley 6, Smith 9, Sewell 3, J. Crawford 12, Johnson 24, Manns 4, Lee Crawford 2, Wilson 1.