Published: 9:00 PM, 02/03/2010

Last updated: 9:00 PM, 02/03/2010

By: Steve Behr Sports Editor

By Steve Behr
sports@wwataugademocrat.com
Watauga's boys' basketball team, playing its third road game in as many days, may have hit the wall in the first quarter against Hibriten last Thursday night.
Hibriten, fresh off an NWC loss days earlier, rebounded with a solid 78-65 victory after taking a 30-point halftime lead. Watauga, winners of two straight last week before falling to the Panthers, got off to a horrible start by scoring just 18 points in the first half.
Hibriten circled the Pioneers like a school of sharks and took complete advantage of a Watauga team that struggled with its shooting and always seemed to be a step behind the Panthers. Hibriten scored 22 points in the first quarter and 26 in the second to claim a 48-18 lead by halftime.
Hibriten, after missing its first three shots, scored on seven of its next eight possessions to take a 15-6 lead. Watauga, after getting a Will Koppenhaver basket off a Damian Edwards assist with 4:40 left in the quarter, would not score gain until there was 1:38 left and with the Pioneers behind 17-8.
Hibriten used balanced scoring to pull away from the Pioneers. Darius Lipford led all the Panthers with 15 points, which included a steal and a slam-dunk in the first quarter. Hibriten's 6-foot-7 center Cody Palmer scored 13 points, while Josh Dula added 12.
Watauga also struggled with 16 first-half turnovers, but committed just five in the second half.
Watauga got 20 points from Caleb Courtney, who was in the starting lineup for the third straight game. Koppenhaver added 14 points and Josh Coffey scored 11.
Watauga made a run at the Panthers even though Hibriten took its largest lead of the game, 31 points, twice in the third quarter. Hibriten led 60-29 with 3:42 left in the third quarter, but Watauga outscored the Panthers 15-1 in the final 3:24 of the period to pull to within 61-44.
The Pioneers continued to close in on the Panthers at the start of the fourth quarter by pulling to within 63-50 on a Courtney stickback. However, Hibriten regrouped and pushed its lead back to 76-52 with 2:19 left in the game.
Watauga hosts Fred T. Foard, a team it beat 54-45 in a game the Pioneers never really were in trouble of losing, but at the same time, the Pioneers could never deliver the knock-out punch they needed to shake the Tigers.

Hibriten 78, Watauga 65
Watauga
Pifer 2 2-2 6, Hodges 0 1-4 1, Coffey 5 1-2 11, Quinn 2 3-5 7, Courtney 8 4-5 20, Turner 0 0-0 0, Koppenhaver 2 0-0 4, Watson 0 0-2 0, Hall 0 0-0 0, Pogoloff 1 3-8 5. Totals 22 15-31 65.
Hibriten
Isbell 2 2-4 7, Davenport 2 0-0 4, Harshaw 2 2-3 6, Burgess 3 2-2 6, Scroggins 0 0-2 0, Dula 2 8-11 12, White 0 0-0 0, Lipford 6 3-3 15, Pearson 2 0-0 5, Curtin 3 0-0 7, Palmer 5 3-4 13. Totals 27 20-29 78.
Watauga    8 10 26 19 - 65
Hibriten    22 26 13 17 - 78
3-point goals-Hibriten 4 (Isbell, Burgess, Pearson, Curtin), Watauga 0. Turnovers-Watauga 21, Hibriten 17. Total fouls-Watauga 17, Hibriten 18. Fouled out-Dula. Technical fouls-None.

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