Former Mason County coach Kelly Wells was honored before Saturday night’s game between the Royals and Pikeville in the Mike Murphy Classic. Wells was recognized pregame and was accompanied by his wife, son, former players anc coaches. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Mason County’s Mason Butler defends Laithan Hall during Saturday’s contest in the Mike Murphy Classic. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
The bronze plaque of Wells’ likeness that will be on display in The Fieldhouse. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Mason County’s Terrell Henry tries to get to the lane against Pikeville. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Mason County suffered their first loss of the season in a 65-56 defeat to Pikeville on Saturday in the final game of the Mike Murphy Classic at The Fieldhouse.
The Royals honored former coach Kelly Wells before the game, unveiling a plaque with his likeness that will be displayed in The Fieldhouse. Wells was brought out with his wife, Shawne and son, Mason along with some of his former players and coaches to be recognized.
The Royals finally met their match following the pregame festivities.
Pikeville brought a physical style of play, was able to handle the Royals relentless ball pressure for the most part and outrebounded the Royals 38-16 in the contest.
“Bigger, stronger and longer in every position. There’s not going to be many teams that you face that have the physicality and length that they have. When they went zone in the second half, the ball didn’t get reversed. The ball didn’t get moved quick enough like it needed to,” Royals coach Brian Kirk said.
The Panthers held Mason County to zero second chance points, took seven charges and held the Royals scoreless in the final five minutes of the third quarter when they switched to a zone defense to take a 50-41 lead into the fourth.
“We kind of switched it up a little bit on them. We got in a little bit of foul trouble, felt like I had to do something to switch it up and force them to shoot it outside and hope they miss. I know they hit 15 3’s last night, but luckily they didn’t hit that many on us tonight,” Panthers coach Elijah Justice said.
They built their lead to as big as 13 in the fourth, but the Royals responded with a 12-2 run to make it a one possession game at 59-56 with 1:19 to play.
They couldn’t inch any closer from there, Pikeville hitting their final four free throw attempts and a breakaway layup to close the game out.
The loss drops Mason County to 4-1 on the season, returning to action on Tuesday when they host Holmes.
Terrell Henry led with 14 points, Nate Mitchell adding 12. A night after hitting 15 3-pointers in a 31-point victory over Augusta, the Royals shot 7-of-26 from the 3-point line.
“You want to see how your kids handle adversity. When things are not going your way, shots are not falling, that’s the game of basketball. Last night they fall, tonight they’re a little bit short. One or two shots here or there, it’s a different ballgame. Feel like this has made us a better team. We talk about getting that one percent better every single day in practice and feel like we’ll get better from this,” Kirk said.
Pikeville hit 57 percent of their shots from the field in the contest, led by Nick Robinson’s 20 point, 15 rebound effort. Keian Worrix added 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists as they improved to 3-0 on the season.
Wells, who’s son Mason is a freshman on Pikeville’s team, coached the Royals from 1997-2004 to a 172-56 overall record with three region championships (2002-04), a state runner-up finish in 2004 and a state title in 2003.
“Anytime you come to a school like this that has a basketball tradition like they do and the history is awesome. To see coach Wells who did it here and to have his son on my team and to be a part of what happened tonight was really special for us,” Justice said. “Anytime we can play a realy good basketball team like this, win or lose, you learn from it and get better.”
PANTHERS 65, ROYALS 56
PIKEVILLE — 18-20-12-15 — 65
MASON COUNTY — 18-16-7-15 — 56
Scoring
Pikeville (65) — Robinson 20, Worrix 16, Hall 9, Jerrell 8, Walters 5, Sammons 4, Fitzer 3
Mason (56) — Henry 14, Mitchell 12, Walton 9, Bierley 7, Mitchell 7, Hamilton 5, Booker 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Pikeville 28/49, Mason 20/47
Free Throws: Pikeville 7/12, Mason 9/13
3-Pointers: Pikeville 2/9, Mason 7/26
Rebounds: Pikeville 38 (Robinson 15), Mason 16 (Bierley 6)
Assists: Pikeville 12 (Worrix 4), Mason 11 (Bierley 3)
Turnovers: Pikeville 20, Mason 14
Steals: Pikeville 9, Mason 15
Personal Fouls: Pikeville 20, Mason 18
Records: Pikeville 3-0, Mason County 4-1
