The Galax Maroon Tide won their first game of the season as they held the Pioneers to 40 percent shooting and their defense caused 23 turnovers as they won 38-31 over the home-standing Pioneers,
Galax was led by Kolton Keatley's seven points. He got help from Ian Ashworth and Eric Bagley, both of whom contributed six points apiece. Cam Cruise and Keaton Beeman chipped in five points each. Defense set the tone for the Maroon Tide, who led the Mountain Empire District contest by a count of 17-11 at intermission.
Fort Chiswell - which debuted at No. 8 in the latest VaPreps Class 2 Top Ten rankings - got eight points from Camden Gravely and Siler Watson was held to just six points.
"It's a very disappointing effort on our part," Coach Jerrad Blevins commented. "We committed 23 turnovers and got outrebounded by something like 26-13."
In addition to the rebounding and turnover columns, Fort Chiswell didn't help themselves from the foul line either as they hit just 2 of 15 from the charity stripe.
With the loss, Fort Chiswell falls to 2-1 on the season. Fort was just down 25-23 going into the last quarter and that was as close as they could get, failing to get their first field goal of the quarter until 3:23 left in the contest.
Galax, which upped its record to 1-1 overall, held the Pioneers to single digits in three of the four quarters.
Galax- 11 6 8 13-38
Fort Ch- 5 6 12 8 -31
Galax- Beeman 5, Ashworth 6, Pickett 2, Keatley 7, Brown 4, Cruise 5, Brannock 3, Bagley 6
FC - Watson 6, Vaught 4, McHone 5, R. Dunford 4, Gravely 8, Williams 4
3-Pt. Goals - Galax - 4 ( Ashworth 2, Cruise, Brannock), FC - 1 ( McHone)
Galax- 9- 2's, 8-14 FT's, FC - 13-2's. 2-15 FT's
Fouls- Galax 17, FC - 18
Fouled Out- FC - Gravely
Inside the Numbers:
Galax - 11, 6, 8, 13 = 38
Fort Chis - 5, 6, 12, 8 = 31
Galax- Beeman 5, Ashworth 6, Pickett 2, Keatley 7, Brown 4, Cruise 5, Brannock 3, Bagley 6
FC - Watson 6, Vaught 4, McHone 5, R. Dunford 4, Gravely 8, Williams 4
3-Pt. Goals - Galax - 4 ( Ashworth 2, Cruise, Brannock), FC - 1 ( McHone)
Galax- 9- 2's, 8-14 FT's, FC - 13-2's. 2-15 FT's
Fouls- Galax 17, FC - 18
Fouled Out- FC - Gravely
