Cougar Basketball Game 7 vs. Pleasant View

The Pleasant View Blue Jays flew into Carver yesterday to take on your 7th grade team. The B game was very exciting with back and forth action on offense for the first half. Carver was impressive in running their plays correctly and leading at the end of the first quarter 8-7 and then at the half 14-13. The game showed that P.V. was a good team but Carver had worked on defensive positioning and rebounding the last few days and it paid off. Nayeem Choudhury, Tory Hall, Noah Neasen, and Brant Jones all had four defensive rebounds each while Hussain Rao, Cole Oliver and Josh Beach combined for eight steals. Noah Nease, Logan Werdeman and Tory Hall pulled in fourteen offensive rebounds allowing Carver to pull ahead by ten at the end of the third and for a win with the final score of 33-28. Noah Nease led the team with thirteen points, Brant Jones had eight and Cole Oliver six.

The A team wanted to come out and control the game from the start but found the Blue Jay team to be very quick and focused as well. The Cougars had several good possessions in the first quarter but allowed Pleasant View to outscore them 14-6 in the first quarter. With some great team defense Carver clawed their way back into the game and the score at halftime showed a five point deficit at 18-13. Isaiah Holyfield worked hard on both ends of the court pulling in eight total rebounds while Kendrick Price grabbed five and Ben Sandy four. Hunter Steinmetz, Jake Thompson, and Jake Brown powered the offense to keep within five at the end of the third with eleven, nine and six points respectively. The Cougars pulled within three, unfortanately the Blue Jays were able to outpace the Cougars and got away with a 43-37 victory.

The Cougars will play at Jarrett upon returning from the winter break on January 6th.

The Cougars have elected to have two practices over the break. The practices are open to both the 7th & 8th grade teams and are going to be ---

Monday December 28th and Thursday December 31st from 8-10 a.m.

Cougar Basketball Game 6 vs Pershing

The 7th grade Cougars hosted Pershing Middle School in basketball Wednesday afternoon. The B team had played a great game against Reed on Monday and wanted to continue the trend in this game. The first few minutes started with the Cougars really doing a good job against the Generals and holding their own. The second half of the first quarter and the second quarter had the B team struggling to get the ball in basket despite running the plays correctly and Carver had only nine points at the half. Despite scoring twenty-one points in the second half the Cougars could not stop Pershing from scoring and lost the game 48-28. Leading the team with four defensive rebounds was Logan Werdeman. Showing defensive promise were Nayeem Choudhury and Josh Beach with two steals each and Tory Hall with two blocked shots. Offensive leaders were Cole Oliver with nine points and Noah Nease who scored six by hitting two three-pointers.

The A team came out strong in the first by playing tough defense and scoring quickly. Midway through the first the Cougars were only down two and at the end of the quarter the score was 13-7 in favor of the Generals. The second quarter was not kind to the Cougars, with the Generals hot shooting and Carver hitting only a free throw the score at half-time was 26-8.
The Cougars have showed a really tough side all season long and once again dug in and tried to make things happen in the second half. Hindered by foul trouble all game the Cougars were still giving all they had and came up with twenty points in the second half. Pershing proved to be too strong and was able to defeat Carver 48-29. Ben Sandy played a strong inside game on both offense and defense to lead the team with twelve points and six defensive rebounds. Jake Thompson snuck inside to pull in three defensive rebounds and scored four points as did his teammate Kendrick Price.

Carver will play a home game Monday against the Pleasant View Blue Jays.

Cougar Basketball Game 5 vs Reed

Your 7th grade Basketball Cougars took on Reed Middle School yesterday afternoon. The B team came out firing on all cylinders thanks to great team defense led by Brant Jones’s team high four steals and the combination of Tory Hall and Sam Stuckey who combined for seven defensive rebounds. Noah Nease and Cole Oliver were like money in the bank for the Cougars- depositing bucket after bucket and scoring twelve and fifteen points respectively. With Carver leading 33-2 at the half the team slowed the tempo down in the second half to take time off the clock- Josh Beach and Hussain Rao did a great job of reversing the ball up top and then feeding it to the awaiting hands of Logan Werdeman and Nayeem Choudhury. At one point the cougars ate up nearly two minutes off the clock on one possession and cruised to a42-6 victory.

The A team came out strong against the Reed Beavers and it was a great first half for both teams. Trading points back and forth was the theme in the first half- proven by the 13-13 tie at the end of the first quarter and the 29-25 lead held by Reed at the half. Several Cougars had picked up fouls in the physical play of the first half and that would prove to be a difficult problem to get around. The Beavers came out strong in the third and were determined to build up an early lead. Three Carver starters including Hunter Steinmetz, Jake Brown, and Ben Sandy had to spend time on the bench due to foul trouble and the Cougars fell behind 46-34 at the end of the third. The Cougars showed true grit and clawed their way back to within seven points before the Beavers were able to pad their lead back up to ten sending Carver home with a 52-42 loss. Hunter Steinmetz scored five three pointers in the game and led the team with twenty-one points and Kendrick Price added fifteen. Price, Ben Sandy, Stephen Smith, and Isaiah Holyfield combined for an impressive eighteen defensive rebounds.

The Cougars will be playing at home against the Pershing Generals this Wednesday. The B game will start at 3:00 p.m. and the A game at 4:00.

Cougar Basketball Game 4 vs Cherokee

Carver hosted the Cherokee Indians in basketball action yesterday. The B team had been working hard to prepare for Cherokee and it showed in the first quarter when the Cougars played tough and held the Indians to just five first quarter points. The second quarter found Cherokee starting to click and pull away from Carver for a 16-4 half-timelead. Josh Beach and Hussain Rao helped defend at the top of key while Nayeem Choudhury, Logan Werdeman and Sam Stuckey dealt with the inside game. Despite a very solid effort from Tory Hall, who pulled in a team high six defensive rebounds, and Naoh Nease along with Cole Oliver who combined for ten steals Carver could not keep pace with Cherokee and lost the game 31-14.
Noah Nease was the leading scorer with eleven points and Brant Jones had four assists.

The A team was excited to step on the floor in front of the biggest crowd of students to attend a basketball at Carver in years. Perhaps it was the excitement of the game that had the team unfocused and led to several turnovers early in the game. The tempo was very fast and the game was quite physical as Cherokee's big men played there way inside and were able to get several Cougars in foul trouble. Not able to generate much offense Carver found themselves down 30-7 at the half. Carver was determined to work their way back and actually outscored the Indians in the third quarter as Hunter Steinmetz hit a three and Jake Thompson added two more. Ben Sandy, Stephen Smith, and Isaiah Holyfield had their work cut out for them as Cherokee forced their way to the basket and once again the Indians began to pull away. Despite Hunter Steinmetz's turbo speed defense and hard work from both Jake Brown and Brant Jones the Cougars were unable to slow Cherokee down in the 49-22 loss. Jake Thompson led all scorers with nine points and Kendrick Price had seven. Ben Sandy and Kendrick Price both pulled in four defensive rebounds each.

Next up for the Cougars is an away game Monday against Reed Middle School- hope to see you there!

Cougar Basketball Game 3 vs Study

Your 7th grade Carver Cougars basketball team went up against the Study Stars yesterday. The B team came out ready to make up for their slow start in their last game. They did! Solid defense was led by Sam Stuckey and Brant Jones in the first along with Noah Nease grabbing a team high 4 steals and Josh Beach with three defensive rebounds. This forced the Stars to play the style of game the Cougars love- fast and furious. Carver was able to pull away in the second half behind an aggressive offense and sharp shooting.
Leading the team on offense was Cole Oliver with five points.
Hussain Rao and Logan Werdeman were instrumental in pushing the B team cougars past the Stars by a final score of 27-18. .
The A team stepped out on the floor not wanting to be outdone by their teammates. Study’s post players started out the game very physical and Carver was ready to answer with a combination of Ben Sandy, Isaiah Holyfield, Kendrick Price, and foul collecting Stephen “let me stand here” Smith. Carver shot the Stars out of the game running their offensive plays with precision and solid shooting. The Stars were reluctant to go down without a fight and came away with several steals during the second half- only to see Carver retaliate with steals of their own. Defensive leaders were Ben Sandy and Kendrick Price with a combined seven defensive rebounds and Hunter Steinmetz and Jake Thompson with a team high three steals each. Leading the Cougars to the 35-4 victory were Jake Thompson with 12points, and Ben Sandy with six.
The 7th grade Cougars will play the Cherokee Indians on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. - the games will be free for any students who wish to attend-so please lets pack the gym and show who has the best fans in the city!

Cougar Basketball Game 2 vs Hickory Hills

The 7th Grade Boy’s Basketball team faced the Hickory Hills Spartans in basketball action on Saturday. Both the A and B teams started out slow against their aggressive opponents and both team pushed hard in the second half but came away with different results.

After falling behind by eight the B team Cougars fought back with a great team defensive effort led by Cole Oliver and Noah Nease to claim a decisive 25-16 victory. Nayeem Choudhury led the team with six points while Noah Nease and Brant Jones had four steals each.
The A team had trouble finding the basket early in the game and did not keep pace with Spartans for almost three quarters. Finally at the end of the third with their team down by twenty points the Cougars came to life. Stifling defense from Jake Brown, Brant Jones, and Jake Thompson along with hot shooting got the Cougars back in the game with a chance to win in the final minute. Despite the great effort in the fourth the Cougars lost the game by one point- 38-37. Hunter Steinmetz led all scorers with sixteen points and Kendrick Price had nine.
Next up for the Cougars are the Study Stars this afternoon.

Cougar Basketball Game 1 vs Pipkin

The 7th Grade Boy’s Basketball team finally got the regular season under way against the Pipkin Pirates yesterday. The B team Cougars found themselves in difficult waters from the beginning of the game to the end. The Pirates came out strong and surprised the Cougars to take an early 8-4 lead. By the end of the second quarter both Cole Oliver and Brant Jones had scored 4 points each unfortunately the Cougars sluggish offense could not keep pace with Pipkin’s 18 points. The third was not much better offensively but defensive effort improved with hustle from Tory Hall, Nayeem Choudhury and Sam Stuckey. The start of the 4th quarter is when the Cougars finally came out to play- outgunning the Pirates 15-4 and actually stealing the lead a few teams. Cole Oliver scored six of his team high ten points and Noah Nease scored five of his seven points. Despite the improved effort the Cougars were not able to close out the game and fell to the Pirates 31-29. Cole Oliver led the team with eight steals while Nayeem Choudhury and Tory Hall had three apiece.
The A game started out intense on defense from both teams. Points were like buried treasure in the early going with the score tied at three apiece at the 3 minute mark. Isaiah Holyfield had two great blocks, Stephen Smith and Kendrick Price were key in not letting the Pirates drive to the basket. The pace picked up on offense despite good pressure defense from both teams and the Pirates found themselves with a 23-22 lead at the half. The second half was like a classic battle at sea with both teams demonstrating great firepower, the Pirates hit three 3-pointers only to be answered by three from the Cougars- one each from Jake Brown, Brant Jones, and Hunter Steinmetz. Defense and solid shooting was the key for Carver as they went down to the wire, needing Jake Thompson to hit two crucial free throws and then an incredible effort to stop Pipkin from scoring with 2.2 seconds left. Hunter Steinmetz led the team with seven steals. Top scorers were Jake Thompson with 13 points, Hunter Steinmetz with 12, and Ben Sandy with 10.
Next up for the 7th grade Cougars is an away game at Hickory Hills on Saturday at 9:00 a.m.