12-13-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARRIER MILLS - Heading into Tuesday night's Greater Egyptian Conference game on the road at Carrier Mills, the Gallatin County Hawks were getting a combined 41-points per game average from its top two scorers; Andy Montgomery and Blayne Barker.

But on this night, thanks to some tough defense and athletic aggressiveness on both ends of the floor, Carrier Mills shut down the Gallatin duo while scorching the nets at DeWitt Gym.

Montgomery got 18-points on the night but Barker was held to just two points, on a single basket in the third quarter.

In the meantime, Carrier Mills had little trouble scoring as they roared off to a 35-16 halftime lead and pulled away for an easy 70-42 victory.

Using their quickness and athletic ability to shut down the Hawks, CM was never threatened in improving to 3-1 overall with a grand defensive effort.
However on the offensive end of the floor, the Wildcats proved to be unstoppable on this evening.

Hitting its first six shots from the field and 9-of-12 attempts in the opening eight minutes, Carrier Mills left little doubt that it was going to be a long night for its conference rival.

Led by Nathaniel and Jeremiah Mitchell's 35-points combined, Carrier Mills had a easy time with Gallatin County.

It didn’t' take long before the Mitchell's got the Wildcats on the scoreboard. From the opening tap, it took one shot and just twelve seconds for Nathaniel to connect on a shot from the right baseline.

A quick change of possession and a Jeremiah Mitchell score in the lane on a pass from Eli Morgan that made it 4-0 with 7:23 remaining in the first quarter.

After Montgomery got his first points of the game on a pair of free throws, Carrier Mills hit four more shots in succession.

Following a N. Mitchell back door lay up, his brother took a pass in stride from Morgan and scored on a fast break lay in.

Gallatin helped out the Wildcats by handing out turnovers like business cards at a class reunion.

Seven violations in the first quarter was a backhoe bucket full of dirt tossed on the Gallatin County victory hopes.

When the dust settled after the first horn, Carrier Mills was in command at 21-6.

"In the first half, especially the first quarter, I felt we controlled every aspect of the game," said Carrier Mills head coach Mark Motsinger. "We got a bit 'sloppy' in the second half but we managed to hold on to the same sort of lead as we had at halftime."

While the Wildcats started strong shooting from the field, Gallatin County was just 2-of-11 from the floor in the opening quarter.

Montgomery tried to keep the Hawks in the game. This 6-foot senior point guard scored 10 first half points. A pair of drives in the lane resulted in second quarter baskets.

Gallatin County reserve Dusty Lowe gave his club a bit of a spark late in the second quarter with a pair of baskets off the bench.
But GC was just 5-of-18 from the field in the second quarter as head coach Chris Fromm watched from the sidelines as Carrier Mills put the game virtually out of reach before intermission.

The Wildcats got six points on the night from Chris Deaton.

This junior hit a pair of big baskets in the second quarter. His rebound basket extended the CM lead to 35-14.

Gallatin's Garrett Jones made a nice steal and fast break lay up to finish the first half scoring as his team went to the break down by 19.

"We are used to getting a lot more in the paint than we got tonight," said Fromm, who saw his teams' mark slump to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the GEC. "Blayne Barker is used to scoring 18-points a game but he couldn't throw it in the ocean tonight. He was 1-for-9 from the field. Andy Montgomery averages 23-points a game. He got 18-points but he was just 6-of-19 from the field."

Morgan had his hand in three of the third quarter's points by his team.

His assist to J. Mitchell got the third quarter going for Carrier Mills. An early second half drive in the lane and runner late in the quarter was his scoring input.

CM kept the Hawks at an arms length in the second half, stopping Gallatin County from going on any extended scoring runs.

N. Mitchell added six third quarter points, two of which came on a thunderous two-handed dunk on an assist from his brother Jeremiah which made it 46-24 with 3:14 left in the stanza.

Coach Motsinger's team finished off Gallatin County with a 10-2 run to begin the final quarter.

A conventional three-point play by N. Mitchell and a 3-point bomb from the left wing by Nick Feazel extended the Wildcat advantage to 60-34. Carrier Mills coasted from there to win its GEC opener.

"We just didn't get anything done in the paint tonight and I give Carrier Mills the credit for that," added Fromm. "They can get up and defend and also get out and guard the perimeter. Tonight they took away what we wanted to do."

Nathaniel and Jeremiah Mitchell paced the 'Cats with 21 and 14 points respectively. Nathan Taborn added 10-points while Feazel and Morgan each tossed in eight.

Carrier Mills blistered the nets with a 30-of-51 performance overall (59 percent) and 5-of-10 from 3-point land.

Coach Motsinger's team 'spanked' the Hawks on the glass, out muscling them for a 35-22 rebounding advantage.

Gallatin County shot a poor 17-of-58 (29 percent) from the floor, 1-of-12 from behind the line.

Their 16 turnovers didn't help matters.

"They outworked us. We had three big kids on the floor tonight and we should have been able to rebound with them," finalized Fromm. "We have out-rebounded everyone we have played except Vienna so tonight was a major disappointment. We are just not playing real well right now and we are going to have to figure out something soon."

Montgomery ended up with 18-poiunts while no other teammate reached double-figures.

Carrier Mills has a conference road game on Friday night as they travel to Pope County.

Gallatin County (2-6) will take on rival Eldorado at the SIC Shootout on Saturday.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Gallatin County	6	10	16	10	-	42
Carrier Mills	21	14	15	20	-	70

Gallatin County (42) - Belford 0 0 0-0 0, Barker 1 0 0-0 2, Jones 1 1 0-0 5, Montgomery 6 0 6-8 18, Duffy 2 0 0-2 4, Shoulders 2 0 1-1 5, Schou 0 0 0-0 0, Mann 0 0 0-0 0, Drone 0 0 0-0 0, Vaughn 2 0 0-0 4, Lowe 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-16, 3FG-1, FT-7-11, PF-15.
Carrier Mills (70) - Feazel 1 2 0-0 8, Morgan 4 0 0-0 8, N. Mitchell 10 0 1-5 21, J. Mitchell 5 0 4-6 14, Taborn 4 0 2-4 10, Huckelberry 1 0 0-0 2, 0 0 1-2 1, Deaton 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-28, 3FG-2, FT-8-17, PF-14.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.