Olney men earn first win 49-35 over Jacksboro

The Olney High School  Cubs picked up their first win of the season after besting Jacksboro 49-35.

The Cubs and Panthers seemed matched each other point-for-point until late in the third quarter, when the Cubs went on a 10-2 run with all of those points coming by way of senior guard Carson Fite.

“It just kind of turn around for me,” Fite said. “In the first half, I could not hit a shot. In the second half, it started to turn on. That was a big deal. Some of them, I had to catch, make an opening for myself and shoot.”

Fite led the Cubs in scoring with 17 points, followed by fellow senior guard Brent McCorkle, who scored 14. McCorkle’s 3-pointer late in the second quarter gave the Cubs their first significant lead of the game, then Fite added a few free throws to put Olney up by four going into halftime. Although  their lead was far from insurmountable, Fite said Jacksboro was far from invincible.

“We went into the locker room at halftime and we knew this team was beatable. We were not playing to the best of our abilities in the first half,” Fite said.

Following a few adjustments by Olney coach Carl Pennington, namely to their zone defense, and penetrating the paint to open up 3-point shots. opportunities.

“We said ‘no more threes until you penetrate,’” Pennington said. “We were just walking down the court and setting up for threes without attacking like they were attacking us and getting us in foul trouble. We did not go to the goal until the second half. When we started doing that, we started getting layups and getting to the free-throw line, which was very important.”

With the win, the Cubs evened their record to 1-1 and will next face Santo Tuesday and host City View Nov. 29.