If Garrard County is one of the lowest ranked teams in the 12th Region, one has to wonder what the rest of the region looks like. Since arriving to the Pine Mountain Classic, the team is 2-0. They only had one victory entering the classic. On Wednesday, they defeated Williamsburg by double digits.

Thursday, it was Pineville’s turn as the Golden Lions handed the host Mountain Lions a 79-41 loss. It was a wire-to-wire effort by Garrard County with the team never trailing by less than double digits after the first quarter.

Braden Sebastian paced the Golden Lions with 22 points while scoring eight baskets from the field. Justin Preston tallied 11 points on the day, while Charles Jones and Trevor Jones each chipped in eight points.

For Pineville, it was Braxton Caldwell — who earned a spot in the starting five after a knockout performance on Wednesday — that led the team in scoring with nine points. Josh Lawson finished the day with seven points, and Ben Goodin tallied six points.

Garrard County opened the first on a 9-0 run before Caldwell ended Pineville’s drought with a pair of free throws that narrowed the deficit to 9-2. The free throws were followed by another short run by the Golden Lions that increased their lead to 16-2.

A Brendan King layup ended the run and cut the deficit to 16-4 over halfway through the opening period. Following a free throw by Trevor Jones, Pineville hit consecutive baskets from Caldwell and Chris Saylor to cut into the lead, 17-8.

Brock Milburn finished the quarter with a layup off a steal to give Garrard a 19-8 lead at the end of one.

The Golden Lions opened the second with a layup from Trevor Jones to increase the lead, but Carter Moss was called for a technical moments later on a defensive rebound after seemingly hitting Lawson in the face.

Hayden Callebs nailed both free throws to narrow the margin to 21-10. Pineville couldn’t fully capitalize on the technical as Trevor Jones got a steal on the inbound pass and was fouled in transition. He hit one of his two free throws to give Garrard a 12-point lead, 22-10.

The Mountain Lions were outscored 22-11 throughout the rest of the second to allow the Golden Lions to gain a 44-21 lead heading into halftime.

The second half wasn’t much kinder to Pineville as Garrard outscored the Lions 37-20 and walked away with the 38-point victory.

Up Next

Pineville (3-7) will battle Williamsburg (5-5) at 2 p.m. on Friday in the last day of the Pine Mountain Classic.

Garrard County (3-9) will play Morgan County on Friday at the Pine Mountain Classic.

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Garrard County 79, Pineville 41

GARRARD COUNTY (3-9)

Trevor Jones 2 4-6 8, Justin Preston 4 3-3 11, Carter Moss 2 0-1 4, Braden Sebastian 8 4-4 22, Dalton Sebastian 2 2-2 7, Brock Milburn 2 3-5 7, Brice Burkhart 2 1-1 6, Charles Jones 4 0-0 8, Noah Allen 1 0-0 3, Hudson Cornett 1 0-0 3. Totals: 28 17-22 79.

PINEVILLE (3-7)

Clay Goodin 1 0-0 2, Josh Lawson 3 0-0 7, Braxton Caldwell 3 2-3 9, Ben Goodin 2 2-2 6, Chris Saylor 2 0-0 4, Hayden Callebs 0 2-2 2, Matt Golden 1 0-0 2, Jonathan Simpson 0 1-2 1, Landon Couch 2 0-0 4, Brendan King 2 0-1 4. Totals: 16 7-10 41.

Garrard County 19 25 18 17 — 79

Pineville 8 13 12 8 — 41

3-point goals: Garrard 6 (B. Sebastian 2, D. Sebastian 1, Burkhart 1, Allen 1, Cornett 1), Pineville 2 (Lawson 1, Caldwell 1).

Reach Anthony Cloud at 606-302-9090 or on Twitter @AnthonyCloudMDN