PULASKI EN FUEGO: Maroons dominate in second half to roll over Boyle

Mar. 7—To kick off their 12th Region title defense, the Pulaski County Maroons had to take down Boyle County, a team they had just beat earlier in February. Sounds easy right? Well, you never can tell in the postseason, especially considering the Rebels were coming off an upset win over Danville Christian, the number one team in the region, in their district finals.

Although the Maroons took an early advantage, Boyle County used their freakish athleticism to their advantage and made the game close at the half. However, the Maroons unleashed a barrage of made shots over the remainder of the game to run away with a convincing 71-44 victory over the Rebels.

Freshman Seneca Driver bullied his way inside for a quick two points for Boyle County before Jalen Wooldridge found an open layup to tie the game up. Senior Avery Bodner was mistakenly fouled on a three-point attempt, but fortunately only hit one of his three shots from the stripe. Back-to-back baskets from Zak Anderson, as well as a three-pointer that was drained by Will Blankenship, gave the Maroons a 9-4 lead midway through the quarter.

A pair of free throws from both freshman Guy Turner and junior Montavin Quisenberry kept the score close for Boyle, but the Maroons broke it back open after a basket inside from Carson Fraley and a deep three from Gavin Cook, forcing the Rebels to take a timeout trailing 16-8. A three before the horn from junior guard Demauriah Brown cut the Pulaski lead down to 18-13 after the first eight minutes.

Boyle continued hammering away at the lead and after baskets from Bodner and Quisenberry, they trailed by only two at 19-17. Blankenship and Cook both kept pressure throughout the period firmly on the Rebels with multiple made baskets. A three from Cook got the Pulaski lead back out to seven before Boyle County closed the half on a 5-1 scoring spree, with Bodner scoring three, to trim their deficit down to 29-26. Kade Hargis added a made free throw for the Maroons heading into the break.

Whatever head coach (and newly minted 12th Region Hall of Fame member) John Fraley said to his group in the locker room seemed to worked, as the Maroons had fantastic ball movement early on to begin the quarter on a 8-0 run, bringing their lead out to 37-28 and forcing a Boyle County timeout. Fraley, Anderson and Blankenship all scored on this run. Quisenberry responded with four of the next six points to cut a bit into the Pulaski lead.

It was then time for Blankenship to exert his "Will" over the ball game, as he scored nine straight points to increase the host's lead all the way up to 49-34. Blankenship drained four straight free throws on the run after a technical foul was called on junior Lyndon Smith following some clear frustration. The teams traded baskets over the remaining few minutes of the quarter, with the Maroons taking a 54-40 lead into the final eight minutes and looking poised to advance onto the semifinals.

It was the Fraley show to start the fourth quarter, as he scored the first four points of the period. Blankenship then got another two free throws after being fouled by Driver, with the freshman also earning a technical foul following some words being exchanged with the referees that put him out of the game with five fouls. Brown scored a two for the first Boyle points of the period, although Blankenship would score on a traditional three-point play shortly after that pushed Pulaski's lead up to 20+ at 63-42.

The game and season was slowly coming to an end for the Rebels, with Pulaski beginning to pile on and increase their lead from the free throw line. A three from Wooldridge ended up being the dagger late and after outscoring Boyle County 17-4 in the final quarter, Pulaski was victorious with a 71-44 win over the Rebels.

The Maroons were led by Blankenship with a game-high 26 points, as well as 13 from Fraley, 12 from Anderson and 11 from Cook. Anderson also had a double-double with 12 rebounds. Other scorers included Wooldridge with seven and Hargis with two. Pulaski also shot 54.8% from the field including 62.5% from three-point range. Boyle County was led by Quisenberry and Bodner with 10 points apiece.

Pulaski County now moves on to the semifinals on Monday night, where they will take on the Mercer County Titans in yet another regular season rematch at 6:30 p.m.

Jacob Pratt is the Sports Editor of the Commonwealth Journal and can be reached at jpratt@somerset-kentucky.com.