Bearcats thwart determined Polk County, hold on for 71-67 win

Polk County’s repeated comeback attempts Friday night kept running into a large obstacle – Hendersonville center Cody Westmoreland.

The 6-6 Bearcat scored 31 points and grabbed 29 rebounds to lead Hendersonville to a 71-67 win at Polk County, giving the Bearcats their third straight win and first Western Highlands Conference triumph of the year.

A Polk County squad determined to snap a losing streak now at seven games trailed much of the final three quarters, yet never let Hendersonville (4-10, 1-3) feel comfortable with the lead, mounting rallies in all three periods. But in almost every instance where the Wolverines (4-9, 0-5) did draw close, Westmoreland inevitably showed up to grab a rebound, score a basket or affect a shot in the paint.

“The effort was unbelievable from our part,” said Polk County head coach Josh McEntire. “We kept fighting, we kept giving great effort and I definitely can’t complain about the effort.

“We kept fighting to the end trying to knock down shots and we hit big shots, but in the end we missed way too many easy shots, too many close shots, during the game. And we had too many turnovers in the open floor that led to them getting easy baskets. We’re fighting our tails off to get a basket and then we give it right to them.”

Down 14 with 1:37 left in the third period, the Wolverines fashioned a 10-0 flurry to cut the deficit to four by quarter’s end. Sophomore Daniel Painter nailed a 3-pointer from the corner, Miller hit a layup and 3-pointer and Wes Brady added another basket to make it 51-47 entering the fourth.

Polk still trailed by four two minutes into the final quarter when the Bearcats scored seven straight to push the lead back to 11. Back again came Polk County, getting the deficit down to 62-56 with 2:07 remaining on a Jaron Bontrager basket. But that would be as close as the Wolverines would get until the final seconds, with Bontrager hitting a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer to close out the scoring.

Westmoreland was fairly quiet in a first half that ended with the Bearcats leading 33-27. But the lanky senior began taking control in the third period, scoring on rebounds, layups and short jumpers as Hendersonville built that 14-point advantage. Westmoreland had 15 of Hendersonville’s 18 points in the third quarter.

“When you’ve got a 6-7 kid who’s that big and that active, he takes away a lot of your mistakes on defense and he takes away a lot of your mistakes on offense,” McEntire said. “Give him credit. He fights in there hard and works hard.

“That kid came in averaging 22 points a game and 18 rebounds a game and he may have hit his averages, but he earned it tonight. Saquan Miller played great on defense and was giving up about five inches in height.”

Bontrager finished with 13 points to lead Polk County, which also got 12 points from Wes Mullis, 11 from Painter and 10 from Brady. Westmoreland was the only Hendersonville player in double figures.

Polk County Scoring
Jaron Bontrager 13, Wes Mullis 12, Daniel Painter 11, Wes Brady 10, Jordan Smith 8, Saquan Miller 8, Anthony Carson 5