MOUNTAIN CITY – For those in Johnson County, this Bud’s for you. Sophomore guard Bud Icenhour scored 23 points to lead the Longhorns to a 59-48 victory over Happy Valley in Three Rivers Conference action on Friday night at Ray Shoun gymnasium.

“I feel like after the Hampton game we definitely came closer as a team,” Icenhour said. “When someone called for the ball, we felt confident in the shot. We finally stepped it up on the boards and Brandon Vannoy came up big for us.”

Vannoy scored just three points in the game but was a glass cleaner extraordinary with 14 rebounds – seven off the offensive glass. For the Longhorns (2-8 overall, 1-1 TRC) it was just their second victory of the season and their first TRC win of 2015.

The Longhorns led 32-23 at the half, behind a dozen points each from Icenhour and Jose Guzman. The duo connected on five three-balls in the first half – with Guzman dropping in three of them.

“Both of their early three’s came off of offensive rebounds,” Warriors head coach Chuck Babb said. “To me that is the stat that beat us. We talked about it yesterday in practice that we had to get better at rebounding. I would say they got to 80 precent of loose balls and out rebounded us.”

In the third period Happy Valley senior guard Josh Hammonds collected a foul and was then charged with two technical fouls and was ejected from the game with the Warriors trailing 44-29. Icenhour then knocked down three of four from the line for a 47-29 Longhorns lead.

HV (6-2, 1-1) closed the gap to 49-37 on a three-point play from Tyler Torbett at the 5:01 mark of the fourth quarter, but Blake Atwood scored a deuce on a jumper from the baseline for JCHS.

Nathan Kyte got HV to within 10 points at 55-45 with a put back rebound at the1:45 mark of regulation, but HV could not get a score on three consecutive trips down the floor before Torbett completed a three point play.

Torbett cut the ‘Horns lead to 55-48, but with less than a minute remaining Cody Bailie’s four free throws sealed the win.

“One thing I always ask my kids after every practice is ‘Does anyone not understand what we have to do’,” said Johnson County head coach Austin Atwood. “We have to have defense, rebounding and play blue collar and do the little things. We were able to get consecutive stops there in the fourth quarter, and that was big.”

GIRLS

Happy Valley 76, Johnson Co. 32

The Lady Warriors (7-2 overall, 2-0 TRC) ran off the first 19 points of the game and were never challenged in an easy victory over Johnson County. The Warriors press defense forced eight first period turnovers which led to 12 points off turnovers.

HV led 45-21 at the break behind 12 first half points from senior post Kalee Johnson, who also posted eight rebounds and three steals in an active first half.

“We have been working on some things offensively,” Lady Warriors head coach Larry Abel said. “We executed our half court offense. We didn’t play with intensity and lost our focus defensively in the second period. We got that shored up in the second half, giving up just six points in the third and fourth quarters.”

Kelsey Duperry led the Lady Longhorns offensive effort in the first half with eight of her team high 14 points coming in the opening half.

Bayley McGee had a pair of steals that led to a pair of layups in her 10 point first half effort and Emily Whitaker had a three-ball among her seven points.

HV extended to a 65-27 lead after three periods were in the books with Johnson getting seven points and McGee added four more. Johnson finished with a game high 21 points to go with 11 rebounds and five steals. McGee added 14 points to the HV scoring ledger.

“She is really good off the drive,” Abel said of McGee’s performance. “She collected a couple assists on her drives also. Johnson County is always a tough place to play, but take away that second period and they didn’t score double digits in any quarter.”

 

GIRLS

Happy Valley 76-33

Happy Valley (76)

Davis 3, McGee 14, Roberts 11, Henegar 6, Whitaker 7, Johnson 21, Frazier 6, Bare 6.

Johnson Co. (33)

Peele 2, Terrill 1, C. Brooks 9, Duperry 14, Cretsinger 6.

 

Happy Valley 23 22 20 11 – 76

Johnson Co. 4 17 6 6 – 33

3-point goals : HV 2-11 (Davis 0-3, Roberts 1-1, Depriest 0-1, Henegar 0-1, Whitaker 1-5), JC 1-9 (B. Brooks 0-1, C. Brooks 1-3, Cretsinger 0-5)

 

BOYS

Johnson Co. 59-48

Happy Valley (48)

Young 7, Hammonds 9, Kyte 10, Torbett 8, Barlow 2, Hicks 6, Blevins 5.

Johnson Co. (59)

Icenhour 23, Guzman 20, Atwood 6, Arnold 1, Vannoy 3, Bailie 4, Lewis 2.

 

Happy Valley 11 12 9 16 – 48

Johnson Co. 12 20 15 12 – 59

3-point goals: HV 1-12 (Young 1-2, Kyte 0-6, Torbett 0-1, Hicks 0-1, Blevins 0-2), JC 6- 19 (Icenhour 3-7, Guzman 3-8, Atwood 0-2, Vannoy 0-1, Bailie 0-1)