Avery's varsity boys hit a tough patch in the schedule last week with a trio of games against quality opponents. Madison defeated Avery on Tuesday by a final score of 88-66, Ashe County upended the Vikings in Jefferson 70-50, and the Mountain Heritage Cougars defended its home court Friday night in Burnsville with a 74-33 win.In Tuesday’s contest at Viking Gym Madison led after a high-scoring opening period by a 22-17 advantage, but the Patriots pulled away midway through the second quarter, lighting up the scoreboard for a total of 34 second-quarter points while the Vikings scored a respectable 21 points. Nevertheless, Madison's lead extended to 56-38 at halftime. Dustin Clarke paced the Vikings with 23 first half points to lead all scorers while Kody Hughes contributed with nine points.
Madison took a 74-50 lead after three quarters of play en route to the 22-point triumph. Clarke finished the night for the Vikings with 26 points, while Kody Hughes was the only other Viking in double-figures with 14 points. A total of four Madison players scored double-figures in the Western Highlands Conference contest.
In Wednesday’s contest in Jefferson, Avery fell to Ashe County 70-50 in a night of milestones for the Huskies. Ashe County head coach Marc Payne was honored for getting his 500th victory last Friday night in a win over North Wilkes. Early in the second quarter, Tommy Spagnolo registered his 1,000th career point and the contest was stopped temporarily to recognize his achievement.
Avery was not phased by the pomp and circumstance of the evening, however. The Big Red played even with the Huskies in the first quarter, leading on multiple occasions before closing the quarter tied at 15 points each.
The bane of Avery's squad and head coach Bo Manis has been the team's performances in the second quarter of games this season. That trend continued Wednesday as the Huskies outscored Avery 21-12 in the period to take a 36-27 halftime advantage. Dustin Clarke led the Vikings with 11 first-half points, with seven points from Cole Blackburn and six from Kody Hughes. All three players would end the night in double-figures scoring for Avery.
The Big Red tried to cut into the Husky lead in the third quarter, but the guard play of Grayson Wells and Daniel Waln was strong, scoring a combined seven points in the quarter and controlling game tempo.
Ashe led 52-38 after three quarters of action. Spagnolo, who had only five first-half points, asserted himself in the final eight minutes by scoring nine points in the final stanza. Ashe's Tatum Lemly, who registered 16 first-half points to lead his club, scored four of his six second-half points in the quarter en route to outscoring the Vikings 18-12 over the final eight minutes.
Clarke led the Vikings with 18 points, five rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Cole Blackburn added 12 points and nine rebounds, with 11 points and seven rebounds from Kody Hughes. Waln scored 11 points with ten assists for the Huskies to go with Tatum Lemly's 24 points to lead all scorers.
Friday night’s contest showcased a tall and talent-laden Mountain Heritage Cougars team that played hard on both ends of the court. The Vikings played hard as well but the offense simply struggled to hit its shots.
The Cougars led early as six points from guard Steven Wilson staked Heritage to a 15-5 advantage after one quarter. Joey Potter accounted for all five of the Avery points in the period.
As the second stanza played out, Avery encountered a scoring drought of epic proportions.
Mountain Heritage scored 14 consecutive points over a span of six and a half minutes in the period as the Vikings remained scoreless. Avery finally managed its lone basket of the quarter on a Jared Ward jump shot with 1:23 left in the first half. By that point the damage had been done as Heritage led 33-7 at halftime.
The Vikings shot only 2 for 18 in the first half (11%), while the Cougars shot the basketball 38 times, hitting 12 field goals while shooting 7 of 10 from the free throw line for the half.
Intermission gave the Avery team the opportunity to regroup, but Heritage kept the pressure on as it outscored the Vikings 21-9 in the third quarter to lead 54-16.
The Big Red continued to play with pride throughout the game as Chase Watson exemplified the fighting spirit, scoring a team-high nine points off the bench (all in the second half) to pace Avery. Cold shooting as a team and 22 turnovers combined with a strong shooting Cougars club were obstacles too great for the Vikings to overcome.
