As a small child, Pineville’s Sawyer Thompson played countless days in Fuson Brothers Gymnasium while his father Russell built the Middlesboro boys basketball program into a winner in the early 2010s.
Young Sawyer undoubtedly saw himself having big games on that court someday in front of big crowds and achieving his dreams.
One of those dream games came to pass Monday night in Middlesboro as now-young man Sawyer Thompson poured in 34 points and had eight rebounds in an epic performance to lead his Pineville Mountain Lions to a hard-fought 66-57 victory over the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets in the always exciting cross-county shootout in the Crater City.
Thompson also eclipsed the 2,000-point plateau and grabbed his 500th rebound for his stellar career during the game.
The 18-8 Lions would need every bit of Thompson’s production and a little more. They got just that in the form of two cousins, Ashton Moser and Zander Garrison.
Moser, a junior guard, and Garrison, a junior forward, came up big for Pineville. The duo scored 18 and 14 points respectively to help the Lions overcome a three-point deficit at the third quarter horn to outscore MHS 28-16 to close the game.
The 10-17 Jackets were led by their high-scoring trio of Jeremiah Beck, Trey King, and Cayden Grigsby with 18, 12, and 11 points, respectively.
The game was a see-saw affair throughout with the Jackets taking a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. Pineville fought back to tie the game at 25 at intermission before Middlesboro grabbed the lead again at 41-38 after three quarters.
Pineville continues its swing of strong teams at the end of the season in preparation for the upcoming 51st District Tournament with a date at Corbin on Tuesday night. The tip is scheduled for 7:30 pm. Middlesboro plays on the road Tuesday night at Lynn Camp.
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Pineville (66) — Sawyer Thompson 34, Ashton Moser 18, Zander Garrison 14.
Middlesboro (57) — Bryce Bowling 8, Joseph Killion 8, Cayden Grigsby 11, Jeremiah Beck 18, Trey King 12.
