Heritage can't hang with Hendersonville
The battle for a share of first place in the Western Highlands Conference varsity boy’s race did not turn out as planned for Heritage in a road trip to top rated Hendersonville on Tuesday night.
The two teams battled to an overtime decision in their first meeting in Burnsville with the Bearcats coming out on top with a half court shot at the buzzer being the decider. This time it was all Hendersonville.
The Cougars (12-7, 7-2 WHC) started out strong in the first quarter with a 12-11 lead but better defense in the second eight minutes by the Bearcats put Hendersonville on top at halftime, 25-19.
Heritage’s zone defense slowed HHS down throughout the game but a 22-point third quarter, thanks mostly to four 3s by Rishad Felton and just eight points by the Cougars during that stretch widened the gap even more in the Bearcats’ favor. Hendersonville (13-2, 9-0 WHC) led twenty points heading into the 4th quarter of the 58-37conference loss.
Heritage had trouble getting the ball up court against a very active Bearcat full court press and, suffering numerous turnovers, the Cougars had trouble scoring.
Cody Westmoreland, a 6-6 junior center, led the Bearcats with a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds)
In a game that was moved up two Thursday night because of the winter storm that hit the area last week, Heritage overcame a first half deficit ran away from host Polk County in the 4th quarter of a WHC game in Columbus.
The Cougars fell behind the Wolverines 24-19 at the break and pulled to within a point of Polk after with a big defensive effort in the third quarter in which they limited their host to just three points.
Spurred on by the inside play of 6-7 Will Buckner and the outside work of guards Lucas King and Grant Buckner, the Cougars out scored the Wolverines 17-8 in the final eight minutes to secure a 43-35 win.
Will Buckner scored ten points to lead the Cougars while King and Grant Buckner added 7 points apiece in the win that kept Heritage firmly in control of second place in the WHC standings.