By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

BOONVILLE — Starmount turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter Tuesday night and averted being East Wilkes’ first hoops victim of the season.

The Rams won 58-49 at home, closing the game on a 14-4 run. Coach Jeffrey Hague’s team improved to 9-11 overall and 9-6 in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A standings — keeping state playoff hopes very much alive. East Wilkes fell to 0-20, 0-14.

“East Wilkes, they have come a long ways,” Starmount coach Jeffrey Hague said afterward. “We got the win, but they have improved a lot. They are becoming a good team.”

Despite their record, the Cardinals proved a pesky, resilient foe nearly the entire way, leading by seven points early and trailing just 44-41 going into the final eight minutes.

Caleb Shoupe tied the game 44-44 with a three-pointer just 30 seconds in the fourth period. A free throw by Shoupe at the 5:58 mark then gave the Cards a 45-44 lead — and hope that this might be the night when the goose egg goes away from the win column.

Shoupe missed his second free throw, but teammate Micah Bryan grabbed the rebound. Unfortunately for the Cards, Bryan’s putback attempt rolled cruelly off the rim. Two possessions later, an East Wilkes three-pointer also barely missed the mark.

The Cards’ lead could have stretched to six points had both of those shots gone down.

Instead, Starmount regrouped and mounted a 12-0 run, holding the Cardinals scoreless for more than five minutes.

Fondae McDaniel tapped back a miss. Jake Barr hit two free throws. Eugene Billips turned two steals into a two layups, then Christian Hurt later earned another layup. Two Dillon Dobson free throws with 46.9 seconds remaining made the score 56-45.

The Cardinals finally ended their drought with about 30 seconds to go in the game, getting a putback from Cody Billings. But it was too little, too late.

“I just think our defense picked it up a little bit,” Hague said. “We kept trying different presses. Once we got back in our diamond press there at the end, we turned it up on them pretty good.”

Jacob Riley (13 points) and Dobson (11 points) paced a balanced Starmount scoresheet. Billips and McDaniel each added 9. Billings finished with 14 points for East Wilkes, while Bryan earned 10.

Both teams have two regular season games left. Starmount will visit East Surry on Thursday in non-conference action,then will travel to Alleghany on Saturday. East Wilkes travels to Alleghany on Friday, then will host Wilkes Central on Saturday.

That likely will be the end of the line for the Cards, since the bottom team from the MVAC doesn’t advance to the conference tournament.

Starmount 58, East Wilkes 49

Tuesday • at Boonville

East Wilkes 16 12 13 8 — 49

Starmount 16 18 10 14 — 58

EAST WILKES — Jarred Cornette 8, Caleb Shoupe 7, Micah Bryan 10, Cody Billings 14, Jordan Jackson 2, McKinley White 8.

STARMOUNT — Eugene Billips 9, Fondae McDaniel 9, Dillon Dobson 11, Jake Barr 3, Dylan Pardue 5, Garrett Johnson 4, Christian Hurt 4, Jacob Riley 13.