Trailing 61-53 with less than four minutes to play Saturday at Grundy, Carroll County’s shot at its first Southwest District victory looked bleak. The Cavaliers finished the game on a 17-4 run, however, and rallied for a 70-65 district road victory.

“(Grundy) played zone about the whole day,” Carroll County head coach Brad Hawks said. “About the last six or seven possessions they switched to man and we were able to take advantage.”

James Lanning started the huge comeback by nailing a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 61-56. Carroll (2-9, 1-2 SWD) then ran back door plays on back-to-back possessions and Tyler Reavis scored layups on both trips. Isaiah Thompson hit one-of-two free throws on the ensuing possession. Brandon Atwood later hit a pair of free throws to put Carroll up five, completing the comeback.

Carroll’s defense played a big part in the rally as the Cavaliers forced 29 turnovers.

“It was a big win I thought. We’ve tried to be posed, hold the ball and set the tempo, but we didn’t do that at all. We wanted to run and gun, play helter skelter and live and die by it,” Hawks said. “We pressed the entire game. Tyler Reavis got hot and scored 17 points in the first half. They did a better job on him in second half, but Lucas Marshall had the best game of his varsity career and James Lanning stepped up and had a big game.”

Reavis led the way with 25 points, while Lucas Marshall tossed in 14. Lanning also cracked double figures with 12 points.

“I thought the kids played hard,” Hawks said. “Everybody on the team played and everybody gave us a little something.”

After finishing eighth in the eight-team Wythe County Christmas Basketball Tournament, Hawks said his team has approached 2009 with a new attitude.

“I told them before the game let’s just go undefeated into 2009 and we’ll be in good shape. They bought into that,” Hawks said. “I saw a big difference from the Christmas tournament to Saturday. They were up for anything. They are just such a good group of kids. They’ll read into anything you tell them and do their best no matter what.”

Carroll is scheduled to return to SWD action Friday when it hosts Tazewell.

Derek Hess paced Grundy (3-4, 0-1 SWD) with 25 points.

Carroll 11 26 11 22 — 70

Grundy 15 19 19 12 — 65

Carroll — Reavis 25, L. Marshall 14, Lanning 12, Thompson 3, Jones 3, Jackson 4, Fink 4, Frazier 3, Atwood 2. 3-pointers — Reavis 3, Lanning 2.

Grundy — Hess 25, Stephens 17, Kelly 8, Rife 5, Boyd 4, Justus 2, Mutter 2, Ellis 2. 3-pointers — Hess 2, Stephens 1.

Bland 61, Carroll 48

Kyle Kennedy ripped five 3-pointers Dec. 29 and helped Bland County top Carroll County 61-48 in the seventh-place game of the Wythe County BB&T Tournament at Fort Chiswell High School.

Carroll County (1-9) finished last in the eight-team tournament, dropping earlier games to Floyd County and Fort Chiswell in the Christmas Tournament.

Bland (4-5) knocked down eight 3-pointers in the game and outscored the Cavaliers in every quarter.

The Bears opened up a 9-4 lead by canning three 3-pointers in the early going. Bland led the rest of the way as Carroll never got closer than one point.

Lucas Marshall led the Cavaliers with 12 points, while Tyler Reavis added 11. Isaiah Thompson chipped in nine points for Carroll County.

Kyle Kennedy paced the Bears with 17 points and brother Kris Kennedy added 10 points and a pair of 3-pointers.

Bland 11 15 18 17 — 61

Carroll 10 10 14 14 — 48

Bland — Ky. Kennedy 17, Kr. Kennedy 10, Myers 9, Shrader 8, Blankenship 6, Lambert 5, Leighton 4, Wright 2. 3-pointers — Ky. Kennedy 5, Kr. Kennedy 2, Blankenship 1.

Carroll — L. Marshall 12, Reavis 11, Thompson 9, Lanning 6, Jones 5, E. Marshall 2, Fink 2, Frazier 1. 3-pointers — Reavis 1.