Stuart Guides Appalachia To Lonesome Pine District Win

BIG STONE GAP, Va. – Every time Appalachia committed another disastrous fourth-quarter turnover, Forrest Stuart was there.

Every time John I. Burton connected on another fourth-quarter 3-point shot, Stuart responded.

Every time his Bulldogs nearly gave the game away, Stuart wouldn’t let them.

The sophomore guard scored a game-high 29 points, including all of Appalachia’s 15 fourth-quarter points, to lead the No. 1-seeded Bulldogs to a 42-40 victory over Burton in the semifinals of the Lonesome Pine District Tournament at Powell Valley High School.

“What we’ve got in Forrest, and the reason we’ve won 20 games, is that when the game is on the line we have a go-to guy,” Appalachia coach Pat Jervis said. “When the game is on the line, I put the ball in Forrest’s hands and more often than not he’s going to come through for us.”

Stuart did most of his damage in the final quarter from the free-throw line, an area that has plagued the Bulldogs and their leading scorer all season long.
With a free-throw percentage hovering around 50 percent for the year, Stuart spent the days leading up to Appalachia’s semifinal game with Burton shooting free throw after free throw.

“All I’ve been doing is working on my free throw shot, so it helped every one of us,” Stuart said. “That way we know we can win the tight games for sure.”

Stuart finished eight of nine from the charity stripe, including the winning two with 5.2 seconds remaining, and Appalachia finished 11 of 16 from the line for the game.
Burton took its first lead of the second half 35-33 in the fourth quarter on Jaycob Coleman’s 3-pointer with 2:37 remaining.

Stuart responded with his own 3-point play and added another two seconds later when he mini-sky hook said through the twine.
But the Raiders were far from defeated.

Coleman’s set up to Caleb Daniels tied the score at 40 with 36 seconds remaining and when the Bulldogs (20-3) threw the ensuing inbounds pass away, Burton attempted to run down the clock for a final shot at upsetting the LPD’s top team.

But a Burton pass ricocheted off the arm of a pressing Appalachia defender, who then lobbed the ball down the court to Stuart.

Stuart was then fouled on his way to the basket, setting up his winning free throws.

“They made some lousy mistakes at the end of the game, we made some lousy mistakes at the end of the game,” Burton coach Stan Wilson said. “It all just boiled down to luck, really … except for the Stuart kid who just took over. He was the difference.”

Both teams combined to commit 54 turnovers in the game.
Coleman led the Raiders (8-13) with 20 points, eight steals and five rebounds.

Stuart began making his case for consecutive LPD Tournament MVP honors, finishing with 10 rebounds to go along with his 29 points.

Appalachia plays No. 2 seed Powell Valley in the championship game on Friday at 8 p.m. Burton plays J.J. Kelly in the tournament’s consolation game at 6:30 p.m.

BURTON (40) – Goins 7, Jaycob Coleman 20, Deaton 7, Talley 4, Daniels 2.
APPALACHIA (42) – Hall 4, Forrest Stuart 29, M. Stuart 1, Allen 5, Fechtner 3.
Burton 7 6 13 14–40
Appalachia 7 10 10 15–42
3-point goals – Burton 4 (Goins, Coleman, Deaton, Talley); Appalachia 1 (F. Stuart).

Powell Valley 60, J.J. Kelly 45

With the Vikings unable to shake the Indians in the LPD’s other semifinal contest, Powell Valley coach Zack Moore turned to an unlikely candidate, at least against Kelly.

Clinging to a 3-point lead after three quarters, Moore designed a play for sophomore Tyler Garrison, who had just six points to that point in the game and was a combined 2-17 from the field against the Indians in the teams’ last two meetings.

“Any time we come out of a dead-ball timeout I try to get the ball to my shooters, my scorers, and I thought he needed to get going,” Moore said. “If he was going to make it or not, I didn’t know.”

Garrison didn’t keep his coach in suspense for long.

The sophomore made the 3-pointer from the top of the arc, and quickly followed that basket with two other threes, leading the second-seeded Vikings (14-9) to 25 fourth-quarter points and a slot in the tournament’s championship game.

“I just couldn’t get open in the first half,” Garrison, who finished with a game-high 21 points, said. “Finally, we set some screens and I got open and made some threes.”

But Garrison was far from the Vikings’ only contributor.
Jordan Martin, the team’s leading scorer during the regular season, chipped in with 14 points, while Sam Vaughan and Dakota Cantrell had 13 and 10, respectively.

The No. 4 seeded Indians (15-9) were led by Devan Miller’s 13 points and 10 rebounds and Devan Sproles’ team-high 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Powell Valley plays Appalachia for the tournament title on Saturday at 8 p.m., while Kelly advances to the championship’s consolation game against Burton at 6:30 p.m.

KELLY (45) – Roberts 2, Dotson 7, Clark 2, Devan Sproles 16, Teasley 2, Collins 3, Devan Miller 13.
POWELL VALLEY (60) – Tyler Garrison 21, Hubbard 2, Jordan Martin 14, Dakota Cantrell 10, Sam Vaughan 13.
Kelly 6 13 13 13–45
Powell Valley 12 11 12 25–60
3-point goals – JJK 1 (Sproles); PV 4 (Garrison 3, Martin).