by Brian Hoffman
From the January 7, 2004 edition of The New Castle Record
The Craig County Rockets will open their Pioneer District schedule at home Thursday night when Parry McCluer comes here for a boys’ basketball game. The Rockets are still winless after eight games, but they’ve played hard every game.
“I’m proud of them,” said Craig coach Walt Raines. “They’ve really been battling every game.”
Craig has been playing with just seven boys, and it’s a group of six sophomores and one freshman. The only senior on the team, Andy Beane, is still out with a dislocated knee cap suffered in Craig’s last scrimmage. He would have been the best player on the team.
“He might be out a couple weeks yet, and maybe longer,” said Raines. “He’s going to the doctor this week, but we’re not going to put him back in there until I’m convinced, he’s 100 percent. He’s a good baseball player and we don’t want to jeopardize his baseball season, and we want him to be okay just for everyday life. “
“This experience is going to make them that much better in the years ahead,” said Raines. “They continue to learn and they’re all tough kids. They won’t back down.”
The Rockets gave Eastern Montgomery a scare last Saturday. The Mustangs are one of the better Group A teams in the area, but Craig trailed by just four after three quarters in last week’s game in New Castle.
“We’ve ben in every game,” said Raines. “We were only down eight against Eastern Montgomery with three and a half minutes to go, but then they got some steals and it starting getting out of hand. They’re a really good team.”
The final score was 66-47. Brock Jones had 14 points to lead the Rockets and Sean Looney and Nathan Fisher had 10 each. Jones also had eight rebounds and our assists, and Looney had a team-high six assists. The Rockets were at Montcalm a day prior and dropped a 55-47 decision. Jones and Fisher had 14 points each and Brandon Fisher had six. Jones had 15 rebounds in this game.
At one point against Montcalm we were up 10, but we took some bad shots and missed some layups,” said Raines.
After eight games Jones is leading the team in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game. He’s also averaging 12 rebounds a game. The Rockets will play a district opponent Thursday when the Rockets play Parry McCluer.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
From The New Castle Record archives