Nail-biter

The Corbin Redounds looked to be on the verge of a blowout with Whitley County Colonels Friday night in Lawson Gym when all of a sudden seniors Jeremy Taylor and Sammy Wilson got hot.
The result was a Whitley County rally but a Redhound victory, 64-62. “Whitley County and Corbin are big rivals, I know coach (Darrell) Guffey would have them fired up and ready to go,” said Redhound coach Tony Pietrowski.
The Redhounds led from start to finish, but to look at the final score, one would never know that, unless they were part of the large crowd on hand for the game.
“Take your hats off to them,” said Pietrowski. “We made some runs at them and they made some runs at us. The two teams just kept competing. It was a tremendous atmosphere, the fans were super and it felt like the 50th District Tournament.”
“I’m glad we came out with a win. We will only improve from this game,” Pietrowski said.
In the early going it looked as if his Redhounds were going to walk away with the win. Corbin took a 10-2 lead in the first two and a half minutes of the game as the Parks and Noble Show started things off.
The duo, Andrew Parks and Jordan Noble scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points. Each player tossed in five points. Parks with an old fashioned three point play and Noble with a long shot from beyond the arc.
Corbin led 20-6 at the end of the first period as only Sammy Wilson, Jeremy Taylor and Travis Raper scored for the Colonels.
Whitley got warmed up in the first three minutes of the second quarter as Wilson and Josh Reeves outscored Josh Crawford and Noble, 6-4, cutting the lead in half, 24-12 when Pietrowski called for a time-out with 5:07 in the period.
A three point play by Parks and back to back baskets by Noble allowed Corbin to post its biggest lead of the game, 32-16.
Then, like Sleeping Beauty, the Colonels woke up. Whitley County scored the final six points of the half and went into the dressing room down by ten (32-22).
“We played hard,” said Guffey. “I just learned that we outscored them three quarters. When you outscore a team three out of four quarters you have to be a little disheartened when you lose the game.”
“The kids played hard in the second, third and fourth quarters,” said Guffey. “We got to learn to come out and play fearless right off the bat. We weren’t fearless, we were a little timid and when we are timid, we are not very good.”
“To be a good basketball team, you’ve got to come out with that fearless attitude and get after people and we didn’t do that in the first quarter,” said Guffey. “We played a much better second half.”
The Colonels started where they left off, outscoring the Redhounds 7-0 before Pietrwoski called a time-out and his team on top, 32-29. The Redhounds failed to score out of the time-out and Raper scored from the inside and pulled the Colonels within a basket. The magic continued as Corbin turned the ball over and Wilson drove the lane. He missed the basket, but was fouled and hit one of two from the line, tying the game, 32-32 with 4:58 on the clock.
That set the stage for a fantastic finish. Corbin finally got on the scoreboard nearly four minutes into the quarter when Noble dropped in a three pointer to regain the lead. Whitley County would fight hard, but was never able to catch and take the lead from the Redhounds.
Noble took charge in the third period, scoring 13 of the 18 points. Corbin pushed the lead back out to six points where they went into the fourth quarter nursing a 50-44 advantage.
Junior Ryan Swim stepped up in the final stanza and put Corbin ahead 55-46 at the 6:52 mark with a three point play.
“I thought Ryan stepped up tonight,” said Pietrowski. “He played one of his better games of the year.”
Taylor cut into the Redhound lead with a three point play and a free throw by Wilson sliced the lead to five (59-54). After a basket by Parks put Corbin ahead 61-54, the Colonels went on a 8-3 run to close out the game.
Down 62-59 after a Wilson basket with :28 ticks left, Swim was fouled and missed two free throws that could have iced the game. Whitley County had a chance to tie the game but turned the ball over. Noble was fouled and went to the line where he cashed in on two free throws with :14 remaining.
Wilson knocked down a three pointer at the buzzer to account for the final margin.
Noble finished the game with 32 points while Parks added 13 points to the Corbin cause. “Take your hats off to him, he took over the game tonight,” Pietrowski said of Noble. “He stepped up and that’s the sign of a mature player in a big game.”
“Corbin is a good basketball team,” said Guffey. “It was the case if our kids had come out of the gate right off the bat, it could have been a different basketball game. I don’t know what would have happened.”
“It’s a rivalry and our kids look forward to it,” said Guffey. “We had a big crowd here for it tonight, the fans were great and it was an exciting time to play with a district tournament atmosphere.”
Three players finished in double figures for the Colonels with Taylor leading the way with 23 points. Wilson added 17 points while Raper had 14 points.
The Colonels will have another big test when Bell County comes calling Friday night.

Corbin 20 12 18 14- 64
Whitley Co. 6 16 22 18- 62
Corbin (64) – Tate 7, Noble 32, Parks 13, Lawson 2, Crawford 2, Swim 8.
Whitley Co. (62) – Wilson 17, Taylor 23, Raper 14, Morgan 4, Reeves 2, Jones 2.