Pulaski County's Cougars hosted the defending Class 2 State Champion Radford Bobcats in the Cougar Den on Friday night and came out on the short end of 70-54 score.

The Bobcats, who have captured six state titles since 2009, have now won 162 of their past 175 contests.

Radford (1-0) was led by junior Cam Cormany with 23 points. Fellow junior Alex Kanipe tossed in 16 and Jackson McManus chipped in with 13. Radford took a 23-13 advantage in the first quarter and expanded that to a 41-25 advantage into intermission.

Pulaski County (1-2) found themselves down 49-29 with three minutes to go in the third quarter but would battled back to within eight - 56-48 - with three minutes left in the game.

Bobcat forward McManus would then hit a big jumper and a three to put the game away.

Pulaski County was led in scoring by Hayden Gray with 15 points and AJ McCloud chipped in with 15.

“We played hard and fought our way back from 20 down to within eight,” said Cougars Head Coach Tyler Cannoy. "We're trying to find ourselves and Radford gets up in your grill and makes it difficult.”

After the graduation departures of Quinton Morton-Robertson and Mile Jones to Radford University, the Bobcats know this isn't the same team that captured the Class 2 crown nine months ago. Yet, they can still be one of the most competitive, even with several new faces and players seeing an increase in varsity minutes.

"It was our first game and it became a grind there in the second half," remarked veteran Radford Head Coach Rick Cormany, who has 693 wins in his decorated career. "I thought Jon Woods and Nate Wesley played well, as did Cam ( Cormany) as well Mcmanus ( Jackson) and Alex Kanipe.

Radford - 23 18 13 16 = 70

Pulaski County - 13 12 15 14 = 54

Scoring - Radford: Cormany 23, Kanipe 16, McManus 13, Wesley 7, Woods 6, Johnson 3, Baylor 2

Scoring - Pulaski County: Gray 19, McCloud 15, Russell 5, Rollins 2, Phillips 2, Blackburn 2, Carter 4, Bourne 3, Gulley 2

3- Pt. Goals – Radford – 12 –( Cormany 6, McManus 3. Kanipe, Wesley. Johnson). Pulaski County - 8 -( Gray 4, McCloud 2, Bourne, Russell)

FG’s – Radford 25, Pulaski County 16

FT’s- Radford 8 -10, Pulaski County 14-17

Total Fouls- Radford 14, Pulaski County 14

Fouled Out- Radford – Cormany

Technicals- None