Thursday night was cold outside, but there was nothing cold about the action inside Charlie Dalton Gym as the Warren County Pioneer freshman boys slugged it out with the Cookeville Cavaliers in what would be a battle that would carry into overtime.
Cookeville trailed the Pioneers the entire game, but Warren County could not close out the Cavs in regulation and the Cavs claimed the lead in overtime and never let go, defeating Warren County 62-56.
Caleb Newby led Warren County with 19 points and Chance Hobbs was right behind him with 18.
Cookeville outscored Warren County 12-6 in overtime and took its first lead after trailing the Pioneers the four previous quarters. To start OT, the Cavs won the tip and Warren County showed zone defense on Cookeville’s first possession. Cookeville had found a rhythm late in the game and carried it with them into OT with crisp passing and a much better shot selection than they had during regulation. The Cavs had the Pioneers on their heels and dumped the ball inside and took their first lead of the game at 52-50.
The Pioneers set up the offense and Hobbs shot from deep and missed, Newby crashed the boards and pulled the rebound and he missed his shot in the lane.
Cookeville ran the floor and the Cavs were suddenly up four, but Warren County went right back to work.
Hobbs drove the lane and found his mark, and the lead was back down to 54-52. Cookeville pushed the tempo and found its mark again. The lead was back to 56-52.
Off the Pioneer miss, the Cavs rebounded and called for time with 1:20 to play in OT. The Cavs inbounded and turned to using the clock against Warren County. Cookeville wound up turning the ball over out of bounds.
Newby for Warren County would take the initiative and score for the Pioneers. It was back down to a two-point lead for the Cavs. Warren County fouled immediately on the inbounds pass and Cookeville was shooting free throws. Cookeville hit both and Warren County trailed again by four, 58-54.
Warren County ran the floor and hit the bottom of the net from short range with 29.2 to play to put Warren County back within two, 58-56.
Some miscommunication by the Pioneers and the Cavs scored deep to go up six in the closing seconds with back-to-back buckets and Cookeville picked up the win in OT, 62-56.
The first quarter was completely dominated by Warren County. The Pioneer offense had little resistance in getting shots from anywhere on the floor. The Cavs coach was clearly upset about his defense in the first quarter and called for time.
After a flurry of shots from inside and out, Warren County took a commanding 17-4 first-quarter lead.
It would have been easy to give up, but Cookeville was not finished yet. After the nerves had settled for the Cavs they were able to put together some runs and suddenly found themselves down by eight. But Warren County closed the door and turned the tables on the Cavs shutting down any ideas of closing the gap any further by the half. The lead was cut to 11 at the half, but Warren County was still up 31-20.
Out of the half both teams pushed the tempo to see what the other had left in the tank. The quicker tempo seemed to favor the Cavs. Cookeville had come out firing and pulled within two points early in the third period.
With the score 31-29 the Cavs had a chance to tie it on free throws but came up empty. Warren County would score on its next possession to go back up by four. The Pioneers would extend their lead and before the end of the quarter Warren County would commit a foul and this time the Cavs would connect on both.
Starting the fourth quarter 37-31 in favor of the Pioneers, the Cavs were in striking distance. After fighting and grinding much of the fourth quarter, Cookeville would pull within four.
Warren County was getting careless with the ball turning it over on several occasions after the Cavs turned up the pressure late in the game, forcing coach Stephen Glenn to call for time.
After several trips down the floor swapping basket, the Cavs defense would rise to the challenge and keep the Warren County offense in check. At 1:07 to play, Cookeville finally tied the game at 50.
It was Warren County possession and coach Glenn called for time to get his plan together. The Pioneers shot with 32.4 to play and were not able to get the shot to fall.
After a missed opportunity by the Cavs, Warren County took possession with 9.3 to play and the scored still locked at 50. The Pioneers ran the floor after inbounding and got a shot away, but it was off slightly and the putback wasn’t before the buzzer sounded.
The freshman team will be back on its home floor on Jan. 13 with tip-off at 6 p.m.

PIONEER SCORING – Caleb Newby 19, Chance Hobbs 18, Tyree Ladet 7, Wesley Jennings 7, Lucas Patrick 4, Noah Bost 1

CAVS TOP SCORERS – Hilliker 21, Scaro 11, Payne 9