Warriors battle to 62-60 win over Cloudland

Published 11:57 pm Monday, November 28, 2016

Star Photo/Bryce Phillips  Happy Valley's Chris Young pushes past Cloudland's Robert Leeper.

Star Photo/Bryce Phillips
Happy Valley’s Chris Young pushes past Cloudland’s Robert Leeper.

ROAN MOUNTAIN—Trailing 36-28 coming out of the half, the Warriors fought their way to a 62-60 victory over a determined Cloudland Highlanders squad.
“We are still trying to get some football out and so are they,” said Happy Valley head coach Chuck Babb. “In the end, we just made more plays.”
The Warriors’ win overshadowed a big game by Cloudland’s Josh Blair who recorded 27 points, and some clutch plays in the fourth to keep things interesting.
“I don’t want to play that kid two more years,” said Babb about Blair. “He is a great player who can shoot the ball and is great at the post.”
In the first half, the Highlanders worked out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter before putting up 19 points in the second frame to Happy Valley’s 20 to hold a 36-28 edge over the Warriors at the half.
The third quarter opened up with Happy Valley putting up four straight points to close Cloudland’s lead to three points, before Blair hit a three to push the margin back to six points. Trailing 40-37, Happy Valley’s Sam Blevins, Austin Hicks, and Dillion Barlow conducted a six-point run to jump out to a 43-42 edge with a 1:19 left in the third quarter.
However, with just 15 seconds left on the clock in the third, Cloudland’s Blair hit a bucket before Highlanders’ Thomas Hick nailed a shot at the buzzer to put Cloudland back out front 46-45 heading into the final quarter.
The Warriors opened up the fourth with eight unanswered points to quickly take a 53-46 edge. However, with his team down 57-48, Blair hit a three, before hitting three foul shots at the charity stripe shortly after to close Happy Valley’s lead down 57-54. A bucket from Hicks would extend the Warriors’ lead to 59-54, before Cloudland’s Robert Leeper hit a foul shot and Blair nailed another three to cut Happy Valley’s edge to just one point with 42 seconds left to play. A foul shot from Happy Valley’s Chris Young pushed his team to a two-point advantage before Leeper put up a bucket off a rebound to tie things up at 60-60. However, with less than 10 seconds left on the clock, Young connected with Hicks on a fast break to give the Warriors a very late 62-60 lead.
“They whipped us on rebounds in the first half,” Babb said. “We were able to shut down the boards in the second half, and that is what turned the game for us. We just have some great kids on this team.”
Hicks led the Warriors with 18 points on the night while Blevins recorded 13.
“It was very intense,” said Hicks about the final moments of the game. “I always like to come up here to play. The crowd is always awesome.”
Leeper finished the game with 19 points for the Highlanders.

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