Freshman Delivers For Hurley In Black Diamond District Win

BY LLOYD COMBS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

HURLEY, Va. – For a team that survived a bus wreck, surviving in a basketball tournament and moving on to the next round is nothing.

Freshman Tyler Cooper poured in 31 points and Hurley advanced to the semifinals of the Black Diamond District with a 50-33 win over Haysi in a play-in game Wednesday night.

Cooper’s offense, he scored 23 points in the first half, when the Rebels (10-12) built a 38-14 lead, and a lock-down defensive effort helped Hurley, whose bus was involved in a serious accident on a summer camp trip to High Point, N.C.

It was a bleak moment for a very young team, which had a bright future before the wreck, and seems to have a bright one now, for the immediate and long term future.

“We’ve come a long way since the accident last summer, when all our kids were sitting, bloodied, on the side of the road,” said Hurley coach Mark Cooper, whose son Tyler had neck surgery after the accident. “Our kids came out and played great defense on Chris Fleming, and they didn’t forget Haysi’s other good shooters.”

Fleming was held to two points in the first half and finished with 10 points. Jeremy Yates added seven for Haysi (5-17). Austin Cooper, Tyler’s brother, added seven points and four assists.
Tyler Cooper, who is battling the flu and became ill just before halftime, and Gary Blankenship combined to score all nine of Hurley’s fourth quarter points at the free throw line.

Hurley, after converting two-thirds (14-of-21) of its shots in the first half, slowed the tempo in the second half, and Haysi, which shot just 23.8 percent (11-of-46) from the floor overall, including a 4-of-23 start, could not speed them up.

“We finally forced a few turnovers in the second half,” Haysi coach Ron Compton said. “But give Hurley credit, they came out and played great defense. We need Chris Fleming to play well, and they would not let him get us going, and our other kids just didn’t shoot well.”

Hurley, which has three freshmen in an eight-player rotation, faces BDD regular season champ Twin Valley in a semifinal contest Friday at Hurley Middle School.

HAYSI (33) – Fleming 3 3-5 10, Yates 3 0-0 7, O’Quinn 0 0-2 0, Mullins 1 3-4 5, Sullivan 0 1-2 1, D. Edwards 2 1-2 5, D. Stanley 0 1-2 1, Bowman 2 0-0 4, Childress 0 0-0 0, N. Stanley 0 0-0 0, S. Edwards 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 9-17 33.
HURLEY (50) – T. Cooper 9 10-16 31, A. Cooper 3 0-1 7, W. Burks 1 0-0 2, Justus 0 2-2 2, Blankenship 0 4-6 4, Jackson 1 0-1 2, Waynick 1 0-0 2, L. Burks 0 0-0 0, Whitt 0 0-0 0, Gibson 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 16-26 50.
Haysi 6 8 6 13–33
Hurley 18 20 3 9–50
3-point goals-Haysi 2 (Yates, Fleming), Hurley 4 (T. Cooper 3, A. Cooper). Total fouls-Haysi 22, Hurley 17. Fouled out-Mullins.