WEST WILLIAMSON — Belfry rang in the new year winning their first game of 2010, by a 58-49 margin against Williamson at Field House Tuesday.The final score may look disparaging, but the distance between the Wolfpack and the Pirates was much closer than the numbers reveal.

At the start of the second half, Belfry had a 7 point lead on the Wolfpack, 27-20 and increased it to 16 points in the opening minutes, outscoring Williamson 11 points to 2. The Pirate’s defense prevented Williamson from keeping the ball very long until the Wolfpack’s Jarrid McCormick narrowed the gap, scoring 8 of Williamson’s 14 points that quarter, jump starting their momentum.

“Sometimes, all you need is one good shot and it can get the whole team excited,” said Williamson’s head coach Curt Fletcher regarding their 3rd quarter run. “We fought hard to come back from a double-digit deficit, but in the end, we couldn’t execute.”

The teams traded the lead for the rest of the game before Belfry broke away from the Pack in the last two minutes of the ballgame and ran out the clock.

“Both teams played hard. We had them on the ropes several times but we couldn’t capitalize,” said Pirate’s head coach Randy

Casey. “We missed a lot of easy shots that would’ve let us seal the deal, but we’ll get better.”

“Like all teams, we just need experience and to get some playing time in, and we’ll be doing well,” said Fletcher.

Scorers for Belfry were: Gary Maynard and Joey Pinson with 16 points apiece, Jordan Hairston with 11 points, Morgan Bentley with 7, Thomas Varney with 6, and Gary Runyon with 2. Pinson also brought down 11 rebounds for the Pirates.

Leading scorers for Williamson were: Jarrid McCormick with a game high 21 points, Chris Hatcher with 9 points, Nicholas Lee with 7, and Bobby Hurley with 6 points and 11 rebounds.

Williamson hopes to improve their 1-3 record Friday, Jan 15 at Burch and Saturday, in the Hatfield-McCoy Shootout against Hanaan at the Field House at 2:30 p.m.

Belfry (3-3) will go on the road to Pike Central Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.