DUBLIN- A good inside penetration game and outstanding senior leadership would be the difference in this game as the senior trio of Corey Poindexter, Andrew Hart, and J.R. Montgomery would combine for 48 of the 57 Pulaski County points as the Cougars held off a late rally by their arch rival Salem Spartans 57-56 Wednesday night at Pulaski County High School. The victory improves the # 6 Group AA Cougars to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in district play, while Salem dropped to 9-5 overall and more importantly, 1-3 in River Ridge action.

"We were driving the post and thought we did a good job of that," Pulaski County head coach Mark Hanks said after the game. "Our three seniors (Poindexter, Hart, and Montgomery) were big, and as seniors they play better now then they did a year ago, and all three made some nice plays in the second half. We were worried about guarding Kenny (Belton), he's an excellent talent," Hanks added.

"We didn't cut off the baseline well, and they (Pulaski County) did a good job going by us on the inside," Salem head coach Grant Smythers said after the game. "We need to run our offense better, we're dealing with youth with sophomores at point guard and we need to get the ball inside, which is something we need to work on," Smythers added.

Kenny Belton would get the first basket of the game off a Bryan Webb assist and a 2-0 Spartan lead. The Cougars would respond with five of their own on a Montgomery 3-pointer off an Austin Twine assist and then a baseline drive by Poindexter would make it 5-2 Cougars at the 5:40 mark of quarter one.

Melvin Felix would respond for the Spartans with a baseline drive of his own that ended up being a 3-point play and a tie game. A pair of Montgomery foul shots put the Cougars back out in front, but a baseline drive by Belton and a pull up shot by Mark Hanabury off a Felix dish would give the Spartans a 9-7 lead.

Montgomery would continue his solid play with a basket off a Poindexter assist to tie it again, but the Spartans would respond with a corner shot by Peery and a Keith Gaines bucket in the paint off a Yanni' El De Jesus assist to give the Spartans a 13-9 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

A coast to coast lay up by Twine would cut the lead back to two before Webb answered also with a coast to coast lay up of his own to close out the first quarter with the Spartans on top, 15-11.

A tip in off a pair of misses by Gaines would give Salem it's largest lead of the night, 17-11 to start the second quarter. The Cougars would immediately respond with a 3-pointer from Hart and the Hart would assist Twine for a bucket and the Spartan lead was now 17-16. A downcourt pass from Webb to Jeremy Adams for a lay up would keep the Spartans up 19-16 with 6:24 remaining in the half.

The Cougars would then set the tone for the rest of the night going on a 10-0 run and would never trail again. All four baskets in the run would be in the paint with a tip in by Hart, then Montgomery would get an inside basket off a Poindexter assist, and then after a pair of foul shots from Twine, Twine would assist Poindexter on consecutive buckets and the Cougars were up 26-19 with 3:41 remaining in the half.

Peery and Hart would trade buckets before the Spartans would close out the half on a turn around by Belton and a put back after some good battling by Peery would cut the Pulaski County lead to 28-25 at half time.

The Spartans would come out and tie the game to start the third quarter. A pair of Webb foul shots would be offset by a Montgomery basket off the glass to keep the Cougar lead at three. A corner 3-pointer by Felix off a Hanabury assist would tie the game 30-30 with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter.

The Cougars would then retake control of the lead behind Poindexter and Montgomery. After a pair of foul shots, Poindexter would get a lay up off a downcourt pass from Montgomery, and then Montgomery would get a basket in the paint off a Poindexter assist for a 36-30 lead. Poindexter and Montgomery would finish an 8-0 run as a Montgomery dish to Poindexter for a lay up would make it 38-30 halfway through the third quarter.

A tip in by Belton would end the run, but Poindexter and Montgomery would be at it again, this time Poindexter feeding Montgomery for the lay up and a 40-32 Pulaski County lead.

Webb would get the Spartans closer with a lay up and a foul shot before a Hart assist to Casey Turpin for a lay up made the lead seven, and a Ryan Dean foul shot would give the Cougars an eight point advantage, 43-35. A Peery foul shot would be countered by a Hart drive to the hole with three seconds remaining in the third quarter, as the Cougars would take a 45-36 lead into the final quarter.

The younger Spartans would not quit however as they started the process of battling back. A Gaines basket would be offset by a Hart lay up that kept the Pulaski County lead at nine, 47-38. Hanabury would draw Salem closer converting a 3-point play that would once again be minimized by Hart, who answered again with a baseline drive as the Cougars lead 49-41 with 6:30 remaining.

A pair of Belton foul shots would keep Salem within striking distance, but an excellent drive to the hole by Poindexter kept the lead at eight. Adams would get a basket for the Spartans before Poindexter drilled a 3-pointer from downtown to keep the lead at nine, 54-45 with half the final quarter exhausted.

The Spartans would then show the tremendous character they have and go on a 6-0 run to make it a one possession game. A pull up jumper from Hanabury, a pair of Felix foul shots, and a steal and lay up from Adams would cut the lead to 54-51 with 2:36 remaining.

However, the super leadership of Hart and his amazing fourth quarter would continue with a basket off another Poindexter assist and a foul shot with 52 seconds remaining gave the Cougars a 57-51 lead.

A drive in the paint by Felix and a 3-point play would make it 57-54 with 37 ticks left on the clock. Forced to foul, the Cougars missed a pair of chances on a one and one to ice the game, with Salem calling their last timeout with 17 seconds left to freeze the shooter. After the miss, Felix would go in for a driving lay up with three seconds left which would not be enough as time ran out as Pulaski County preserved a hard fought 57-56 win over their district rivals.

Smythers chalked up the last 17 seconds to inexperience. "After we took the timeout to freeze their foul shooter, inexperience lead to not shooting the 3-pointer to tie when we penetrated. Next time we're in that situation, hopefully we'll shoot the three," Smythers said about the game ending sequence of events.

Smythers also praised Poindexter and the way his team played in this game. "They hurt us with Poindexter, he took us off dribble drive time and time again. I'm proud of our team, we've had a little adversity this year, but they played hard and extremely well. They gave everything they had," Smythers concluded.

Hanks also had plenty to say about some of his other players. "Ryan Dean and Austin Twine did a good job of pressuring the ball and didn't let Salem take the ball where they wanted to take it. Mark Hanabury did a pretty good job for them against the full court man to man. I thought he handled it well," said Hanks after the game.

When asked about the district, Hanks cautioned about the district title at this time. "We're not counting our chickens yet, since we still have to go to Hidden Valley and Salem. Maintaing the district will allow us to take care of home court," Hanks concluded.

An impressive performance by all who saw this one.

Salem 15 10 11 20 56

Pulaski County 11 17 17 12 57

SCORING: SALEM: Felix-13, Belton-10, Hanabury-7, Webb-7, Peery-7, Gaines-6, Adams-6; PULASKI COUNTY: Poindexter-17, Hart-16, Montgomery-15, Twine-6, Turpin-2, Dean-1. 3-POINTERS: SALEM: Felix. PULASKI COUNTY: Poindexter, Montgomery, Hart.

PULASKI COUNTY STATS:

REBOUNDS: Hart-9, Dean-4, Poindexter-3, Twine-3, Turpin-2, Montgomery.

ASSISTS: Poindexter-7, Montgomery-2, Hart-2, Twine-2, Dean.

STEALS: Montgomery-2, Dean, Hart.