By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

EAST BEND — An early January loss to Forbush may have been one of the lowest points of Starmount’s boys basketball season.

The Rams not only dropped a game to their biggest rival at home — and had to watch as Falcon fans stormed the court afterward — they saw their overall record plunge to 2-7.

But that frustrating night a month ago seemed to mark a turnaround for coach Jeffrey Hague’s team, which has since ripped off six wins in its last eight attempts.

Things came full circle Thursday, with the Rams hammering Forbush 67-46 in the rematch in East Bend.

After giving up the first eight points, Starmount buckled down defensively and repeatedly burned the Falcons on the offensive end with strong inside play from M.J. Bryant, Garrett Johnson, Jake Barr and others.

Barr led all scorers with 14 points, including 10 in the opening half. Johnson added 12, while Bryant worked for eight — all in the second half. The Rams had 11 layups, putbacks and/or easy shots around the cylinder over the final 16 minutes, while also hitting nine of 11 foul shots in the final quarter.

“I thought our energy on the defensive end was really the key to the ball game,” Hague said afterward. “And we’ve got some pretty strong players who can finish down low if we can get the ball in there.”

Thursday’s result proves pivotal in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A standings. Starmount improved to 8-5 in league play, while Forbush dropped to 8-5.

The two county rivals now sit tied for third place among the 2A schools — two games behind Wilkes Central and 2.5 games behind Ashe County. That’s important because it looks like only three MVAC schools will make the 2A state playoff field (with no wildcard possibilities, according to the latest brackets released by the state).

“This was a huge win for us tonight,” Hague said. “If we don’t win this one, we have a hard time possibly getting in the playoffs. Our kids knew that going out there and I think they gave the effort tonight to get the job done.”

Though Starmount (8-10 overall) seemed to seized control by the second quarter, Forbush still seemed in good shape midway through the third, trailing just 33-30. But the Rams went on a 9-2 run to create some distance, punctuated by a 3-pointer from Dylan Pardue and then a fastbreak jumper from Pardue.

Starmount led 46-37 heading into the final quarter. Things slipped away from Forbush at that point, with the Falcons coming up empty on five straight possessions (three turnovers, two missed free throws and a missed layup).

The Rams moved out of reach with a series of layups on the other end from Bryant, Johnson and Eugene Billips, putting the score at 58-39.

Avery Ravit led Forbush’s scoring with 13 points. Despite playing with an injured hand, Cody Eller added 11 points for the Falcons.

Both teams have three regular season conference games remaining.

But the big question is whether they’ll be able to get all three games in before the end of next week due to all the recent wintry weather.

Starmount is scheduled to play Alleghany tonight, East Wilkes on Tuesday and North Wilkes next Thursday (plus a non-conference rematch with East Surry next Friday). Forbush is slated to host Elkin tonight, visit Alleghany on Tuesday and then host Wilkes Central next Friday.

With Alleghany still needing to play five conference games — and another round of wintry weather in the area this weekend — there may not be enough time to complete the entire MVAC schedule before the Feb. 15 start of conference tournament action.

Starmount Boys 67, Forbush 46
Thursday • at East Bend

Starmount 11 16 19 21 — 67
Forbush 17 6 14 9 — 46

STARMOUNT — Eugene Billups 9, Fondae McDaniel 2, Dillon Dobson 6, Jake Barr 14, Dylan Pardue 11, Garrett Johnson 12, Christian Hurt 3, M.J. Bryant 8, Jacob Riley 2.

FORBUSH — Zach Hutchens 5, Matthew Cain 5, Michael Scott 9, Mahlon Matthews 3, Avery Ravit 13, Cody Eller 11.