GRAYSON, Ky. - A high school basketball game is 32 minutes. The Green Bobcats are good to go for 30 minutes.

It's those two missing minutes that have been the problem for the young Bobcats and it proved costly again Saturday as Green fell 70-55 to the West Carter Comets in the Greenup County Shootout.

"It seems like were hitting a stretch of a minute or two where we just don't play well," Green coach Kevin Lewis said. "The other team gets on an 8-0 or 9-0 run and we can't find a way to stop it.

"But we're awful young. And we're playing pretty well despite being so young. We just have to keep working and become more consistent."

One key factor in the Bobcats lack of consistency against the Comets was the absence of leading scorer Aaron Patten who missed the game due to the flu.

Lewis said Patten's absence provided other players with an opportunity.

"I was glad to see we got contributions from other guys. We had some guys who hadn't scored or played much. They stepped up and did pretty well," Lewis said.

Green's other senior, Timmy Yarnell, stepped up and scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Derek Lewis added 11 points and four assists while Ryan Klaiber had seven rebounds.

West Carter was led by Rick Kisinger with 15 points. Grant Stevens, Casey Jones and Thomas Flannery scored 11 points each.

The Bobcats took a 15-10 first quarter lead as Lewis scored seven points and Yarnell and Klaiber four each. Brody Walker had all five of his points in the quarter for the Comets.

Kisinger dropped in eight points in the second quarter as West Carter got on a roll and outscored Green 24-12 to take a 34-27 halftime lead.

The Comets continued to pull away in the third quarter as Jones scored five points and it was 56-43. Yarnell scored 12 of Green's 16 points in the quarter.

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West Carter10242214-70

GREEN (1-2):

Timmy Yarnell 8 1 8-10 27, Jason Bester 1 0 2-4 4, Derek Lewis 4 1 0-1 11, Adam Sparks 1 0 0-0 2, Brian Ramey 0 0 2-2 2, Ryan Klaiber 3 0 0-2 6, Ryan Bloomfield 0 0 1-2 1, Kenny Elrod 0 0 0-2 0, John Dawson 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 20-48

(2)

13-23

55. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 28 (Yarnell 9, Klaiber 7). Assists: 9 (Lewis 4). Turnovers: 17.

WEST CARTER (NA):

Grant Stevens 1 1 6-6 11, Brody Walker 1 1 0-0 5, Eric Butler 0 0 1-2 1, David Barker 0 0 0-1 0, Derek Kiser 3 0 4-6 10, Rick Kisinger 3 2 3-4 15, Casey Jones 4 1 0-0 11, Thomas Flannery 4 0 3-5 11, Shane Kiser 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 19

5

17-24

70. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: None.