Friday night’s nightcap at Lynchburg featured a District 8-A matchup between the Cornersville Bulldogs and the Moore County Raiders.

Moore County’s Brayden Cashion poured in 21 points to lead all scorers in the contest and the Raiders survived a second half surge by the Bulldogs to pull out a 57-47 victory.

“I have got to find a way to get us a win, we haven’t been in those situations where we have to protect the lead and we’ll have to watch film and see how to,” Cornersville coach Peyton Newton said. “It was a good total team effort.”

Eli Welch made his presence known in the opening stanza as he scored 11 points and blocked or altered several shots to keep the Bulldogs close.

Michael Ashley aided the cause with a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs, but Cashion had six points to give the Raiders a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs stayed right there as Bryce Woodard knocked down three 3-pointers and Jackson Mitchell added one.

Welch scored his thirteenth point, but was forced to the bench most of the quarter nursing an ankle injury.

Blake Woosley and Cashion, scoring six points each gave the Raiders a 36-30 lead at the half.

The third quarter is where the Bulldogs came back with Ashley connecting on another three as did Mitchell.

The Cornersville defense with Welch shining, shutdown the Raiders as they only scored three points in the quarter.

“When Eli plays hard, we all play hard,” Newton said. “He’s the fuel to our fire.”

The Bulldogs pulled into a tie at 39-39 when Welch sank a jumper as the third quarter wound down.

Cornersville’s Tanner Reese put the Bulldogs ahead for the first time with a layup early in the fourth quarter.

Welch and Cashion traded baskets before a Cashion bucket brought the Raiders back, tying it at 43.

At the 3:43 mark of the third period, Reese got loose again along the baseline and laid in a perfect reverse layup and the Bulldogs led 45-43.

The Raiders rallied with Cashion getting another basket and Will Harder adding a basket to put MC up 47-45.

The Bulldogs shots did not fall and they were forced to foul, but the Raiders converted their free throws to pull away with the 57-47 win.

“We need to finish at the end of the game and I need to hit my free throws,” Reese said. “As a team we’re keeping each other up during the game.”

Cornersville 15 15 9 8 - 47

Moore County 17 19 3 18- 57

Cornersville (47): Eli Welch 18, Bryce Woodard 9, Tanner Reese 7, Michael Ashley 6, Jackson Mitchell 6, Michael Bungay 1.

Three-Point Goals: (7) Woodard 3, Ashley 2, Mitchell 2.

Free Throws: (4-for-10) Welch 2-for-4, Reese 1-for-4, Bungay 1-for-2.

Moore County (57): Brayden Cashion 21, Blake Woosley 10, Will Harder 7, Ben Fletcher 5, Andrew Copeland 4, Coltan Bateman 4, Riley Holman 3, Dylan Scruggs 3.

Three-Point Goals: (4) Cashion 3, Holman.

Free Throws: (13-for-16) Cashion 4-of-4, Copeland 2-for-2, Hardee 5-for-6, Fletcher 1-for-2, Scruggs 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Moore County 23, Cornersville 19.

District 8-A Standings

Fayetteville (17-2, 5-0)

Eagleville (14-5, 4-1)

Cascade (6-14, 3-2)

Moore County (9-1, 2-3)

Huntland (4-15, 1-4)

Cornersville (2-17, 0-5)