Pioneers dropped in district matchup
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Warren County’s boys led early, only to see the homestanding Cookeville Cavaliers bounce back and take an eventual 67-62 victory.
With the loss, Warren County fell to 6-11 overall, and will carry an 0-5 district record to Murfreesboro tonight, where they’ll face the No. 1-ranked Siegel Stars.
Cookeville entered Tuesday’s game without the services of Taylor Stearman, who was suspended after an ejection last week. The Cavaliers further shuffled their lineup because of disciplinary action against two more regular starters.
Warren County took advantage, and jumped out to an early lead behind the play of Warren Swann and Brandon Adcock, who scored nine points in the first quarter.
The Pioneers led by a 15-7 margin after an Andy Harrell 3-pointer, but Cookeville came to life late in the period, tying the game at 17-17 with a Zach Hannigan “3” before Swann ended the period with a free throw to give WCHS a one-point lead.
Cookeville reclaimed the lead early in the second, and after a see-saw battle for eight minutes of play, the Cavs took a halftime lead — and a huge morale boost — when Hennigan slammed home an alley-oop pass to put his team up 33-30 at intermission.
Warren County came out of the halftime locker room with a 6-2 run to keep things close, and led 42-39 on an Adam Wood layup with 4:12 to play in the period.
But that would be the final time the Pioneers would lead the contest, as Cookeville out-scored its guest 17-6 through the remainder of the quarter to take an eight-point advantage, then held on through the fourth to capture the five-point victory.
Hennigan’s 19 points led Cookeville’s efforts, while Matt Hill had 16 and Addison Smith scored 14.
Adcock led the Pioneers with a game-high 21 points, while Wood came off the bench to contribute 12 and Swann had 10. Harrell scored nine, Todd Gilley had six, and Brooks Majors and Jonathan Morris had two apiece.
With the win Cookeville improved to 2-3 in district play and 13-5 overall.