It may have been their first games of the 2017-18 high school basketball season, but Logan County and Warren East played at a level as if it were already tournament time on Monday night at Raider Gym.
The two sides went at it from start to finish – and it took extra minutes to determine a winner in the grinded out contest, as the Cougars (1-0) used a big overtime period to edge the Raiders (0-1), 59-52, to tipoff their seasons.
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“Every year we start out playing Warren East and it’s always a dog fight,” Logan County head coach Lonnie Mason said. “We’re two evenly-matched teams and you just never know how it’ll go. Luckily we came out on the winning side of it this year.”
It wasn’t easy for the Cougars to record their slim seven-point victory, as Warren East presented a tough, young group that battled all throughout the night. Logan County led by eight at 41-33 after three quarters but the Raiders fought back in the fourth to make things interesting.
With 4:19 remaining, East trailed by just two at 44-42 and then finished the quarter by outscoring the Cougars 16-8 to force overtime. In a big second half, Tashawn Neal – who scored just two points in the first half – exploded for 13 points, including three three-pointers, to keep the Raiders in it.
Boys’ hoops: Warren East-Logan County finish: https://t.co/hlidqncvQl
— The Sporting Times (@sportingtimes) November 28, 2017
“Logan is an experienced basketball team – I was worried when we got the game into overtime with those guys being the veteran team,” Warren East head coach Brandon Combs said. “We’re a work in progress. We’re young experienced wise. I told the guys after the game that ‘Man, we fought – we fought our tails off.’ We got back in the game and gave ourselves a chance.”
Entering the overtime period with the scoreboard knotted at 49-49, Logan put its foot on the gas and outscored the Raiders 10-3 to seal the win. A big part of the victory – and the overtime frame – was its big man in Tommy Krohn, who finished with a game-high 23 points and 17 rebounds.
Logan County worked the ball to Krohn all night long and the center’s length resulted in a tough matchup for a smaller Warren East squad.
“Tommy Krohn has had an excellent summer,” Mason said. “He’s been working hard. He’s a go-to guy that we think when the game gets tough that he’s the guy we’re gonna go to.
After averaging just 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last season, the junior Krohn is already playing at a high level for the Cougars this year and knows he must continue to do that.
“It’s a win,” Krohn said. “It’s a long season. We’re just trying to get better.”
Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @_TylerMansfield.
