Forest pesters Bees before rollicking home crowd

The law of averages finally caught up with the lads from Forest.

Playing Brookville on even terms throughout the first quarters of their matchup, the Cavs developed a collective cold shooting hand in the fourth stanza and fell to the Bees by the score of 48-33.

"On this night (Brookville) was too much," said Cav Head Coach Paul Smith. "It was a matter of them playing well, not us playing poorly."

The vastly undersized Cavs had a chance, but only if the stars aligned for them. They seemed to be doing so when after Bobby Shelton and Dylan Augenreich had consecutive steals and layups to open the second half.

After Logan Thomas pegged a three-pointer, Shelton countered with a trey of his own. But the battle of the three pointers ended when Thomas nailed another.

Todd tenPas hit a 12 foot jumper and Shelton's beautiful dish to Jackson Connell kept the Cavs within 4 points going into the fourth.

At that point, Thomas went to work, hitting a three pointer, fighting through three Cav defenders for a layup and nailing a 10 footer, he reestablished the Brookville lead at 9. The Bees never looked back as the suddenly ice-cold Cavs suffered, only managing 4 points for the quarter.

With the lengthy Thomas and Corby Weiss underneath, any missed shot on either end of the court, was quickly gobbled up by the Bees.

"I've never seen (Thomas) shoot like that," remarked Smith. "We don't have anybody that can guard him both inside and outside." Thomas is one of the best ball handlers on the team, probably the best shooter and showed superb moves.

Cav Ted Price has the toughness and the defensive prowess to hang with a Thomas. But the height disadvantage is what hurts him. Certainly no fault of his own. "Ted brings it to battle," commended Smith.

Up next

Four games in five days is the gauntlet the team faces. Having played Amherst this past Tuesday, Forest has a makeup date (snow) at Staunton River on Thursday. Forest hosts Rustburg this Friday and, on Saturday, the Cavs head to Heritage. The team will then take a much deserved break, in anticipation of its matchup at Liberty (Friday, Feb. 8).