In what amounted to a must-win game for the Warren County High School boys basketball team, the Pioneers survived a late scare to snap their five-game losing streak.Warren County missed two clutch free throws in the final 25 seconds, but three missed layups by the Coffee County Red Raiders aided the Pioneers in a 38-36 victory at Charlie Dalton Gym.Warren County (13-12) entered the game in a prolonged funk and tied for last place in District 6-AAA with the Red Raiders.A loss would have assured the Pioneers of fifth place in the district, so Warren County came out extra motivated to break its recent trend of losing.Still, it took the Red Raiders missing three point-blank opportunities in the final six seconds for the Pioneers to celebrate their first victory since beating Coffee County on Jan. 6 in Manchester.The Pioneers took a two-point lead with 3:22 to play when senior Hunter Adams picked off a pass near midcourt and went uncontested for a layup.Coffee County sliced the lead in half with a free throw 20 seconds later, then both teams went scoreless over the next two minutes.Senior Hunter Daniel, who finished with a team-high 16 points, broke the scoring drought with 45.1 seconds left when he hit a pair of free throws to give Warren County a 37-34 lead.Lance Crismond, the leading Red Raider scorer with 11 points, answered back quickly by going coast-to-coast for a layup.Trailing by one, Coffee County decided to foul the Pioneers after the home team got the ball in play. Mitchell McCorkle was sent to the free-throw line with 29.6 seconds left to shoot a one-and-one.The senior point guard missed the first shot, giving the Red Raiders a chance to take the lead. Crismond tried to take it by himself once again, but his runner in the lane was errant and Tucker Smith grabbed the rebound for Warren County.Smith, who returned to action after missing the previous two games due to a shoulder injury, was fouled immediately and went to the other end to try his own one-and-one.
Pioneers win thriller