Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN The Man Hillbillies held tough with the Class A No. 5 Tug Valley Panthers for three of four quarters Saturday night at the Man Memorial Fieldhouse, however, it was that one quarter that proved to be costly, allowing the Panthers to pull away and secure victory over their sectional rival.
Behind the hot shooting of Braydun Ferris, Tug Valley outscored Man 24-6 in the third quarter en route to a 73-51 victory over Man.
Leading 30-23 at halftime, Ferris opened the second with a quick 3-pointer and was 6 of 6 from the floor including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc. The freshman finished the quarter with 15 points as the Panthers seven-point advantage grew to 25.
Ferris finished with a team-high 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and was 3 of 5 from 3-point range to lead Tug Valley to its third straight victory.
The Panthers improved to 7-3 overall, and most importantly, 4-0 against Class A Region 4 Section 1 competition. Man dropped to 1-7 overall, and 0-4 against Class A Region 4 Section 1 opponents.
Caleb Vance led Man with a game-high 21 points on seven 3-pointers. Vance shot 7 of 11 from the field with all of his field goal attempts coming from 3-point territory and was the only Hillbilly to crack double figures. Devon Sanders had eight points, Kaleb Mullins finished with six and Chris Isaacs scored five points, hauled down seven rebounds and dished out four assists for the Hillbillies.
The Hillbillies held two leads in the first quarter and lead 10-7 on Vance’s bucket with 2:29 remaining in the quarter before the Panthers closed the quarter on a 9-3 run and led 16-13 after one quarter.
Tug Valley extended its lead to 11 points, 30-19, on Buddy Marcum’s basket with 1:24 to play, however, the Hillbillies scored the last four points of the quarter and trailed 30-23 at halftime.
The Hillbillies fell victim to cold shooting in the third quarter, connecting on just 2 of 9 attempts from the field, while the Panthers, behind Ferris’ 6 of 6 performance from the field, knocked down 10 of 15 attempts and was 4 of 7 from 3.
Man caught fire in the fourth quarter, which saw the Hillbillies make 8 of 12 shots and 3 of 5 3-pointers and closed a 25-point deficit to 18-points on two occasions in the second half.
Parker Davis finished with 14 points, Buddy Marcum had 10 points and eight rebounds, Joey Gollihue added eight points, seven rebounds and three assists and Johnathan Wagner finished with six points to go along with eight rebounds.
Tug Valley 73, Man 51
Tug Valley (7-3)
Ferris 8 0-0 19, Elia 1 0-0 2, Gollihue 4 0-0 8, Wagner 3 0-3 6, Marcum 5 0-3 10, Davis, A. 3 2-3 8, Davis, P. 5 2-2 14, Hale 2 0-0 6. Totals: 31 4-11 73.
Man (1-7)
Sanders 4 0-0 8, Mullins 1 4-6 6, Ward 1 2-4 4, Isaacs 1 3-6 5, Miller 1 0-0 2, Gerace 2 1-1 3, Vance 7 0-0 21. Totals: 17 10-17 51.
Tug Valley 16 14 24 19- 73
Man 13 10 6 22- 51
3-Point Field Goals_Tug Valley 7 (Ferris 3, Davis, P. 2, Hale 2), Man 7 (Vance 7).