ELKINS – The Mt. Lions faced off against Philip-Barbour in the first night of the Elkins Holiday Mixer on Friday Dec 27th. Austin Zirk connected on 6 three point baskets in the first half and Tucker County ran away from the Colts for a 64-38 win.
The game started well for the Mt. Lions as they raced out to a 24-8 lead after the first quarter of play. Defense for Tucker County continued as they held the Colts to just 6 points in the second quarter, while the Mt. Lions scored 17 in the quarter to push the lead to 41-14 at the half.
In the third quarter Tucker County outscored Philip-Barbour 13-10 to make the score 54-24 after three quarters. The reserves for the Mt. Lions finished the game in the fourth quarter and Tucker County picked up the win 64-38.
Austin Zirk led the way for the Mt. Lions with 26 points. Ian Nichols added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
On the next night, Saturday Dec 28th the Mt. Lions matched up against the host team Elkins. In front of a standing room only crowd at Richard P. Simmons Memorial Gymnasium Tucker County built a big lead in the first half and held off a late charge by the Tigers to pick up the 76-66 win.
The Mt. Lions got off to a hot start in the first quarter as they hit their open shots and operated the half court offense to perfection to take a 23-15 lead after one. Tucker County scored 19 points in the second quarter and limited the Tigers to just 10 points to build a 17 point lead at the half 42-25.
Early in the third quarter the Mt. Lions expanded their lead to as many as 19 points before Elkins made a run to get back into the game. The Tigers outscored Tucker County by 11 points in the third to cut the lead to 8 points after three 55-47. Elkins continued to chip away at the Mt. Lions lead in the fourth quarter as they got within 2 points, but they could not get any closer as Tucker County made their foul shots down the stretch to pick up the big road win 76-66.
Ian Nichols exploded for 30 points and 8 rebounds for the Mt. Lions and Austin Zirk added 14 points on the night. Owen Evans finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds. Derek Zirk led Tucker County in rebounding with 12 boards. The Mt. Lions out rebounded the Tigers 30-15 in the game.
The Mt. Lions(5-1) will host Notre Dame on Friday Jan 3rd, the Lady Mt. Lions will start the evening at 6pm against the Lady Irish and then the Boys’ game will follow at approximately 7:45pm. For more info go to TuckerCountySports.Com.