Somerset — Pulaski County head coach Al Gover knew that Somerset was a very good basketball team heading into last night’s cross-town match-up.

After 36 minutes of hoops action, the Maroons head coach felt exactly the same way, as the homestanding Briar Jumpers gave the visiting Maroons all they wanted, plus more, in a barn-burner last night at The Briar Patch.

Thanks to a 40-point performance from junior Kody Johnson, the Maroons were able to sneak past Don Daniel’s pesky Jumpers with a 78-73, overtime victory.

“Somerset is a very good team this year,” began Gover, who witnessed his ball club move to 16-9 overall on the year with the hard-fought, five-point victory over the Jumpers. “You have to bring your ‘A’ game when you play them. I thought we played pretty well at times and not so well at times, but you have got to give Somerset credit.”

“Anytime you get a win on the road in the district, you’re doing something pretty well.”

Heading into the fourth period of hoops action, homestanding Somerset led by seven points at 54-47. However, the Maroons would erase that seven-point deficit and tie the ballgame up midway through the fourth quarter.

Pulaski junior Taylor Gover knocked down a trey with 4:15 left in regulation, which tied the ballgame up at 59-59.

The Maroons, thanks to a free-throw from junior Tyler Goins, took their first lead of the second half, along with their first lead since early in the second quarter.

Goins’ charity toss gave the Maroons a 60-59 lead with 3:40 left in the period. Somerset, with a made free-throw from sophomore Matt Gordon and jump shot from senior Alex Lange, retook the lead at 63-60 with just over three minutes left in regulation.

After a free-throw from Matt W. Smith, Johnson would tally a 3-pointer to give the Maroons a one-point, 64-63 advantage with 1:50 on the clock.

Out of a Somerset timeout, Gordon tallied a fade-away jumper which allowed the ‘Purple and Gold’ to retake the lead at 65-64.

With 32 seconds remaining, Goins gave the Maroons a 66-65 lead with a lay-up. The following trip down the floor, Lange would put Somerset back out front at 67-66 with 18 seconds left to play.

The remaining seconds of the frame was nothing mass chaos. In the final seconds, the Maroons were fortunate enough to pick up a few rebounds after misses, allowing them to keep possession.

Johnson, while going up for a shot, was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining, meaning he would have to shoot a pair of free-throws. After missing the first one, the junior hit the second shot, which meant this contest would need an extra four minutes to decide a winner, as both teams went into overtime knotted at 67 apiece.

“(Kody) was tremendous again tonight,” praised Gover. “It seemed like when we needed a big basket, he was there to stick it in the basket for us, whether it was inside or outside. We were fortunate enough to have him tonight.”

To kick-off the extra session, freshman Blake Burton came up with a lay-up to put the Maroons out front, 69-67. Goins would widen the gap to four points with a jump shot.

Sophomore Ryan Dishman tallied one of his five treys with just under three minutes left in the extra frame, lessening Pulaski’s lead to a mere point at 71-70.

After consecutive lay-ups from Johnson, the Maroons would grab a 75-70 lead with 1:12 left on the clock. Dishman would knock down another trifecta to cut the lead to two points with 52 ticks remaining on the scoreboard.

However, Gover would knock down three of four shots from the charity stripe to clinch the 78-73 victory for the Maroons. Along with moving to 16-9 on the year,

Pulaski finished a untouched 6-0 in 47th District contests.

Somerset went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the 12th Region, which pleased the Jumper hoops coach.

“I’m very proud of our young men,” Daniel stated. “I think we needed to compete with confidence and that’s what we did tonight. I really don’t have any qualms about our play tonight. We were one rebound away from winning a ballgame.”

This tough loss will be a tool for the Jumpers for the rest of the 2011-12 hoops season.

“We can take away a lot of positives from this, because I think we can build upon the fact that we competed with confidence. Now, we’ve got to get it done in practice. We have got to the get the mentality that you hate to lose more that you love to win.”

Pulaski’s ‘Big Three’ of Johnson, Gover, and Goins, had a big night, as the trio tallied 72 of the Maroons’ 78 points. Johnson led all scorers in the district clash, pouring in a game-high 40 points. Gover chimed in with 17 points, while Goins finished the game with 15 points.

Johnson also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Dishman, who came off the bench for the Jumpers, scored a club-high 21 points in the game. Sophomore Cam Cheuvront had 16 points, Lange scored 14 points, and Gordon hit double figures with 10 points.

Jumper senior Ryan Weddle had 6 points, along with a team-high 7 boards.

Pulaski’s next game will be against one of the top teams in the state, as the Maroons will travel to Richmond on Friday night to face the Madison Central Indians.

After a cross-town match-up last night, the Jumpers will face another cross-town foe on Thursday evening, as Somerset will entertain Southwestern at The Briar Patch.



PC   18 16 13 20 11 — 78

SHS 17 18 19 13   6 — 73

PULASKI COUNTY (16-9): Johnson 40, Gover 17, Goins 15, Matt  T. Smith 3, Burton 2, Matt W. Smith 1.

SOMERSET (11-8): Dishman 21, Cheuvront 16, Lange 14, Gordon 10, Weddle 6, Speaks 4, Megargel 2.