Cumberland rally comes up short as Jets fall at Pickett

Scott Wilson, Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.
·2 min read

Jan. 30—Despite playing solid defense, the CCHS Jets had periods where they struggled to put the ball in the basket Friday night against Pickett County, and came out on the short end of a 64-44 decision in Byrdstown.

"Pickett County has got a lot of kids that can really shoot the ball," said Cumberland County Coach Taylor Denney. "[Pickett County star] Jacob Amonett is a good little guard. They're pretty young, and they're not very big, so they play five guards all the time. Defensively, I thought we were fine."

The loss drops Cumberland County to 4-20 for the year. Pickett County improves to 13-9.

"We did a pretty good job of guarding them Friday, but we just couldn't score some buckets," Denney said. "They went on a run with about 3 minutes to go in the third quarter, and that put the game away for them. We kept competing and we kept battling. We just struggled to make shots we normally make."

Jaxon Reed led the Jets in scoring with 12 points. Braden Leviner had nine and Braeden Woodard scored eight. Dylan Smith added seven for CCHS, while Ethan Dixon had four. Braylon Burnett and Sol Sitton scored two points each.

Amonett scored 13 points to lead Pickett County.

"We were able to do a lot of the things we wanted. It just wouldn't go in," Denney said. "If coaches had a magic pill to make shots, everyone would score 90 a game. They ran one set that gave us some trouble in the first half, but we made some adjustments and took that away. It was a very good test for us."

Cumberland County will visit Livingston Academy Jan. 31. The girls game begins at 6 p.m.