Walking into the gymnasium at Pickett County High School in Byrdstown is a little intimidating.
There are banners all over the walls honoring Pickett teams that that have won regional and state titles. The atmosphere is electric and the rabid Bobcat fans sit right behind the benches. It is a tough place to play.
Neil Capps and the Stone Memorial High School Panthers came out of Byrdstown with a hard-fought 60-54 victory.
“Pickett County is one of the toughest places in the state of Tennessee to come play a basketball game,” Capps said. “That is because basketball is a way of life up here. There is a basketball history here, and these young men take it seriously.
“We knew coming out here it was going to be dog fight. We knew we were not going to pull away from them, and they were going to fight us for 32 minutes.”
The win is the Panthers’ third straight victory and moves them to 4-1 overall. Pickett County falls to 4-1.
Stone Memorial, looking to get inside as often as it could with 6-foot-5 center Brady Lane, or off the drive with Cade Capps, who is also 6-5. The Panthers led 16-10 after the first period and 28-24 at halftime.
“We knew they shot the ball well, so the four shooters they had in the game, we wanted to stay close to them, make sure their feet were uncomfortable,” coach Capps said. “We were switching, we were communicating well early…
“Defensively, I thought we executed our game plan pretty well, but again a lot of new faces out there. They’re learning on the fly in a tough environment tonight. Pickett did really well in their trap in the post, and rotating out of it. But I can tell you nothing was easy here tonight. Everything was a battle, and you had to earn it.”
Stone Memorial began to widen its lead in the third quarter. Lane worked hard around the basket, and the Panthers got buckets from Preston Mayberry and Braiden Elliott to catch a 44-32 lead heading into the fourth period.
But the Bobcats weren’t done. Jacob Amonett and Gage Hargis kept Pickett County close in the final eight minutes.
“In the second half, we started defending and getting some stops. I thought we rebounded really well,” coach Capps said. “When you do that you get open floors, and you want to push it in transition.
“But we knew going in to the fourth quarter that was going to be eight minutes of a struggle with them because we knew just how competitive they are, how good they are with their pressure.”
Cade Capps led all scorers with 30 points. Lane had 12 points, while Elliott and Mayberry scored six each. Jordan Mannis scored three and Wyatt Grothe had two. Spencer Bowman tallied one point.
Hargis led Pickett County scorers with 16 points. Jacob Amonett chipped in with 15 points.
“We got good bench minutes tonight,” coach Capps said. “We had multiple guys foul out, so we got deeper into the bench with some guys that don’t normally get those type of minutes, and I was very pleased with that.”
Up next, Stone Memorial will visit York Institute Dec. 1 in Jamestown.
“Players find ways to make plays in big moments and down the stretch, Pickett County kept finding ways to make plays,” coach Capps said. “Fortunately for us, I have a lot of new faces out there that made plays for us. I am really proud of how my guys.”