by Rusty Ellis

Pickett County-Red Boiling Springs

The Bobcats overcame an early 12-point deficit to take down Red Boiling Springs 70-67 on Tuesday, as the Bobcats clinched their spot in the Region 4-A Championship for the second straight year.

A trio of RBS threes in the first quarter powered the Bulldogs to a 19-10 lead to start the second, and Riley Thompson’s three to begin the frame gave RBS their largest lead of the game at 22-10.

From there however, Pickett closed the first half on a 22-4 run to take a 32-26 lead into the halftime break, as Jacob Amonett scored all eight of his first-half points in the quarter to lead the way.

Pickett outscored RBS 15-13 in the third quarter to push the lead to 47-39 to start the fourth, and at one point early there, they extended the lead to double-digits and appeared set to run away with the win.

The Bulldogs battled back however, and after an Eli Reagan miss at the free throw line with under 10 seconds remaining, RBS had a shot to take a three to tie the game and force overtime.

Colton Copas’ shot fell just short though, and Pickett County advanced to the region title game with a 70-67 win over Red Boiling Springs.

Nathaniel Cobb finished with a team-high 19 points for Pickett County, while Eli Reagan added 18. Amonett finished with 15 points of his own.

Copas led all scorers with 36 points, an impressive close to his high school career.

RBS finishes the season with a 14-17 overall record and a 3-5 mark in district play.

Pickett County will now take on Gordonsville in the Region 4-A Championship on Thursday at 7 P.M. at East Robertson High School. The Bobcats have won all three of the previous meetings.

Gordonsville-Jo Byrns

Gordonsville overcame an energetic start from the Red Devils and dominated from the end of the first quarter-on in their 60-49 win on Tuesday night.

After Jo Byrns took a 6-2 lead, the Tigers closed the quarter strong and took an 18-12 lead on the strength of nine first-quarter points from J Foster.

The second quarter saw GHS extend the lead further, thanks to six points from Tucker Smith and stifling defense that saw the Red Devils only score 12 points for the second straight quarter. All of this added up to a 35-24 lead for the Tigers at the break.

Gordonsville held pace with Jo Byrns for both the third and fourth quarter, as they got a big second half from Tristan Wood (10 of his 15 points) to take down the Red Devils 60-49. This clinches both a spot in the region title game and a spot in the substate round for the Tigers.

A balanced scoring effort for the Tigers proved to be the difference, as Foster and Wood each finished with 15 points to lead the way. Smith finished with nine points of his own.

Burton Cox paced Jo Byrns with 19 points.

Gordonsville will now turn their attention to Pickett County on Thursday, as they will battle the Bobcats for the fourth time this season at East Robertson at 7 P.M.