Mountain Heritage’s Brayden Deyton scored 21 first-half points to build an insurmountable lead, and the Cougars held off Polk County’s persistent rallies for a 64-49 victory in Thursday’s Western Highlands Conference boys basketball battle at Polk.
Deyton got off to a hot start in the opening quarter with three 3-pointers and 13 points as Mountain Heritage (12-5, 7-0 WHC) built an 18-10 lead. With the Cougars up 20-14 early in the second quarter, Deyton sparked an 11-4 run with back-to-back 3-pointers that pushed the lead to 31-18 with 2:40 left in the half.
But Polk County (3-16, 0-8 WHC) refused to let the conference leaders pull away, mounting multiple second-half rallies to stay within striking distance. The Wolverines opened the third quarter with seven consecutive points – a Khristian Littlejohn jumper, an Aaron Jackson layup and a Jackson 3-pointer at the 6:02 mark – to close within 35-30. Mountain Heritage responded by pushing the lead back to nine by the end of the period.
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Jackson opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to make it 44-38, keeping the pressure on. Polk County closed to within 51-46 with 3:03 remaining on a Jackson basket, a Littlejohn free throw and a Littlejohn basket. But Mountain Heritage’s Isaiah Adams answered with back-to-back layups, and the Cougars finally pulled away down the stretch.
Jackson led Polk County with 21 points. Littlejohn added 14, Khalil Austin scored six, Nate Fagan and Ross Dow each finished with three and Chase Stansbury had two.
Deyton finished with 27 points after scoring a career-high 31 last Friday against Madison.
Polk County is scheduled to host Madison on Friday in another conference game, weather permitting.
