BY PAUL LUNSFORD
Contributing writer

The Pineville Mountain Lions showed a strong shooting game against visiting Owsley County on Tuesday, rolling to a 89-52 victory.

Pineville shot 53 percent (32 of 60) from the field and were 18 of 31 from the free throw line for 58 percent.

Ashton Moser powered Pineville with 27 points, hitting all eight two-point goals and added three 3’s.

“Ashton is a very talented player, who has only gotten better with experience,” said Pineville coach Brad Levy. “He is capable of scoring in bunches every night out. He’s going to have a great career here as he develops and gets more experience.”

The 89 points are the most scored by the Lions since a 109-56 win at Red Bird on Dec. 9, 2008.

“We are a pretty good team offensively, and can put up a bunch of points, but we have struggled the past couple weeks,” said Levy. “I challenged them to sit down and guard and to take pride in, not being the reason our team defense broke down. They responded and we played well defensively, as we have in a while.”

Freshman guard Sawyer Thompson and junior forward Evan Biliter scored 13 points apiece for the Lions. Kaiden Robbins, a freshman guard, had a career-high 12 points. Sam Caldwell tossed in seven. Dylan Honeycutt finished with six. Eli Thompson had five and Ashton Burns scored four. Dakota Walters added two.

Pineville grabbed 41 rebounds as a team with Biliter leading with eight. Caldwell grabbed seven and Eli Thompson pulled down six. Moser added five.

Nicholas Terry, a senior guard, poured in 25 points for the Owls. He grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore forward Seth Schott scored nine and Wes Cope added five.

McKindrick Little, a senior forward, had eight rebounds and four points for Owsley.

The 10-9 Mountain Lions returned to action Tuesday at Lynn Camp. Pineville travels to Thomas Walker (Va.) on Saturday afternoon and visits J. Frank White Academy (Tenn.) on Monday.

Pineville will not be back at home until Jan. 28 against Knox Central.

Owsley County (4-10) travels to Estill County on Tuesday and Leslie County on Thursday.
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On Friday, visiting Letcher Central defeated the Mountain Lions 69-47.

Sawyer Thompson led Pineville with 25 points, including 12 of 15 free throws.

Moser knocked down three treys and finished with nine points. Logunn Little added seven. Caldwell, Walters and Biliter each had two points.

Caldwell had a team-high six rebounds.

Letcher Central improved to 6-8 on the season.

The Cougars claimed a 98-79 win over Pineville on Dec. 23 in the Battle of the Borders Classic in Lee (Va.).

Letcher Central will visit Floyd Central on Tuesday, Harlan County on Thursday, and Lee County on Friday.