Yancey county sports blog: CHRISTMAS TOURNEY BOONE HERITAGE BOYS GET PAYBACK!

Cougars took on West caldwell 1st round in boone

West Caldwell beat defending Appalachian Athletic Conference champion Smoky Mountain in last winter's 2-A state semifinal game.

Cougars from the start took took advange of their size inside taking with 6-11 John cannon controlling the game from the start. Cougars strong D slowed the dangerous shooters KJ JONES and ANTINIO DULA . The defense was so good it caused one of the warriors to get called for a techincal against Trenton Burleson and was thrown out of the game. Cougars controlled inside with cannon and biggerstaff leading until late in the ball game.

The last 8 Min's. seen the game change as the cougars could no longer get the ball inside. In the last min. the Warriors tied the game up,Then the cougars turned the ball over ! Warriors held the ball till the last shot and hit a 8 foot jumper. Ball game!

Even in a loss, the Mountain Heritage confirmed Wednesday that they will be a force in the Western Highlands Conference and 2-A playoffs.

The Cougars pushed West Caldwell to the limit before falling 57-55 in the semifinals of Watauga's holiday basketball tournament.

John Cannon led Mountain Heritage with 20 points.

"We're a work in progress, but we're getting there," Cougars coach Barry Johnson said.

"We've played some really good basketball teams and we've had some tough luck. But we're getting healthier and getting some guys back (from injuries). We feel good about what this team can do."

Round two COUGARS VS PIONEERS

ROUND TWO: HERITAGE VS WATAUGA

With the loss Mountain heritage played a team that defeated them at home earlier in the year. SO IT WAS TIME FOR PAYBACK!

Watauga tried just about everybody on its roster to guard Mountain

Heritage center John Cannon.

It didn't seem to matter who guarded the 6-foot-11 center. Watauga's

tallest player, 6-5 Will Koppenhaver took his turn, but ran into foul

trouble and had to leave the game. He wasn't the only Pioneer who

could not handle Cannon, who scored 29 points in the Cougars' 78-64

victory over Watauga in the consolation game of the Pioneer Holiday

Tournament.

Both Koppenhaver and Caleb Watson, who also helped out on Cannon,

eventually fouled out. When Watauga's outside shooting started to

misfire, Cannon was the most effective weapon on the floor.

Watauga got 19 points from Jake Pifer, who hit five 3-pointers. Damian

Edwards added 13 points and Watson scored 11 for the Pioneers.

But Mountain Heritage outscored the Pioneers 30-15 in the fourth

quarter to pull away from the Pioneers. Watauga led 49-48 going into

the fourth, but Mountain Heritage went on a 14-3 run to take a 62-52

lead that the Pioneers could not overcome.

Watauga pulled to within six points one (62-56) and eight (72-64) on a

Pifer 3-point basket with 44 seconds left. Pifer was named to the

all-tournament team.

Mountain Heritage hit 13-of-20 foul shots in the fourth

At the end Heritages Xander Silvers brought the ball to halfcourt and launched a 3 as time expired and drilled it!

THE HERITAGE DEFEATED THE PIONEERS 78-64

NOTE :

END OF THE GAME WAS THE REAL STORY AS HEAD COACH FOR THE PIONEERS CAME AFTER GUARD MATT KARDULIS ! Kardulis stood his ground and watched the police haul away Coach Sanders. This goes back to when Heritage faced Watauga at home earlier in the year. Wataugas Damian

Edwards was trash talking with some cougar fans which caused someone to throw a hot dog wrapper towards the pioneers bench. The pioneers coach then made the statement to the fans"BUNCH OF STUPID REDNECKS". Well during the hand shake the statement was brought up"NOT BAD FOR A BUNCH OF STUPID REDNECKS huh coach" That caused caused Coach Sanders to go crazy. Going TOE to TOE with coaching staff and tiring to get to the cougar player. After being lead away by security it was good for a few laughs at the head coaches temper tantrum! If you are not going to Cougar basketball games you are missing a real show!

Mountain Heritage boys 78, Watauga 64

Mountain Heritage

Silvers 2 0-0 6, Tomberliin 1 0-0 2, Buckner 0 1-2 1, Cannon 11 7-11

29, Biggerstaff 2 8-10 12, Letterman 3 5-8 12, Burleson 3 4-9 13,

Hoilman 1 1-1 3, Vess 0 0-0 0. Otals 23 26-41 78.

Watauga

Pifer 7 0-0 19, Hodges 1 0-0 3, Watson 4 3-6 11, Quinn 3 0-2 8,

Koppenhaver 3 0-1 6, Edwards 1 11-13 13, Chambers 2 0-0 4, Hall 0 0-0

0, Pogoloff 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 14-24 64.

Mtn. Heritage 15 16 17 30 � 78

Watauga 16 15 18 15 � 64

3-point goals�MHHS 6 (Burleson 3, Silvers 2, Letterman), WHS 8 (Pifer