At times Wednesday night, it felt like a free-throw shooting contest had broken out at Polk County rather than a boys basketball game.
Which didn’t matter to the Wolverines as long as they won it.
Polk County did enough at the foul line to snap a four-game losing streak and earn its first home win of the season, topping Owen 58-54 for an absolutely vital Western Highlands Conference victory.
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What may have looked like nothing more than a mid-week matchup of one-win teams actually was most important for Polk County (2-12, 2-3). With the win, the Wolverines are now 2-3 in the WHC race, three games behind an Avery team that looks ready to run away with the conference title.
But it’s the race within the race, the battle for the league’s two 2A automatic playoff berths, that is on the Wolverines’ minds. There Polk now trails Mountain Heritage by one game and is tied with Hendersonville and Madison. The Wolverines will face all three of those teams in the next nine days, meaning a well-timed hot streak could put the Wolverines in prime playoff position. Owen dropped to 1-15, 1-5 with the loss.
“For all of the ups and downs this season, we are now 2-3 in the conference and in the middle of the pack,” said Polk County head coach Josh McEntire. “The four schools in our group (1A Mitchell is 3-2) are our next four games.
“We needed that win. I told them before the game that a win tonight put us right back in the thick of things.”
Victory came in large part because of free throws on a night when whistles blew plenty. The two teams combined to shoot 52 free throws, with Polk going 17-of-34 at the line and Owen 5-of-18. The fourth quarter was a stop-and-go affair with 27 free throws, the Wolverines scoring 11 of their 13 points in the period at the stripe.
“If we make our free throws, it’s a 15-point game,” McEntire said.
Leading by one early in the fourth, the Wolverines pulled ahead 50-45 on four Arnie Twitty free throws midway through the quarter. After an Owen basket, another Twitty free throw made it 51-47 with 3:38 left, but Polk County then missed its next five attempts. Owen, struggling to score or get second shots against Polk’s defense, still made it a two-point game with 59 seconds left at 53-51, but Jamal Wheeler drained two free throws three seconds later, then two more with 24 seconds left after the Warhorses failed to score on their possession, upping the lead to 57-51.
After a timeout with 8.5 seconds left, Owen’s Ben Craig grabbed the inbounds pass and immediately launched a rainbow jumper from far behind the 3-point stripe that found nothing but net, trimming the margin to 57-54. After another timeout, the Warhorses immediately fouled Twitty with 2.5 seconds left, and the freshman hit one of two free throws to seal the win.
Wheeler had 18 points to lead Polk, with Twitty scoring 13 and Jason Chupp adding 11. Chupp and Twitty each had nine rebounds and Wes Mullis added eight, with Wheeler contributing four assists and five steals.
Polk County wraps up the first half of its conference schedule and begins that important four-game stretch on Friday, visiting Hendersonville.
Polk County Scoring
Jamal Wheeler 18, Arnie Twitty 13, Jason Chupp 11, Wes Mullis 6, Daniel Painter 5, Dillion Overholt 3, Jaylin Wilkins 2
