By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
HURLEY, Va. — A decent start and a strong finish were enough for Hurley. MThe Rebels survived a long rough patch in the middle of the game to hand Northwood a 54-41 defeat in non-district play Monday night at Hurley High School.
Greg Stacy was the difference inside, scoring a game-high 27 points and finishing with 13 rebounds for a double-double for the Rebels (6-8).
Hurley opened the game on a 9-0 run and held the Panthers scoreless for the first 5:33, but the Panthers shut out the Rebels for seven minutes to take a 12-9 lead in a rugged first half for both clubs.
Hurley regained the lead, 18-16, just before the halftime buzzer, but struggled on both ends of the floor in the third quarter.
Jacob Havens scored 14 points, including eight in the third period when the Panthers got within 36-35. The Rebels forced a couple of turnovers and shut down Northwood the rest of the way, making a 16-2 run to build a 52-37 lead by the one minute mark.
“We had a good little run there at the end and a good one at the start, the rest of the time wasn’t good,” Hurley coach Mark Cooper said. “I think we were looking forward too much to Haysi (Tuesday) night. “We didn’t execute very well on offense and on defense, as much as anything we were fortunate that Northwood had the long bus ride to get here. They had tired legs in the fourth quarter.”
No one else scored in double figures for either team. Tanner Charles added eight points for Hurley. Jason Prater added eight for Northwood.

Girls game
Northwood 69, Hurley 39
Northwood scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to pull away from Hurley in the girls contest Monday night.
Peyton Williams was one of four double figure scorers with 13 points and hauled in eight rebounds, one of four players with eight or more for the Panthers, whose 23-0 run gave them a 55-23 advantage early in the fourth quarter.
Emily Cassell posted a double0double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Northwood. Kelsey Puckett and Bailey Hess each added 10 points.
Hurley, which turned the ball over 29 times, got 15 points from Kourtney Cook and 11 from Adrianna Cline.

At Hurley High School
Boys game
NORTHWOOD (41)
Robbins 2, Prater 8, Call 1, Havens 14, Williams 6, Cardwell 0, Jones 4, Moore 2, Surber 2, Nunley 2.
HURLEY (54)
Peck 4, Gibson 7, B. Stacy 6, Charles 8, G. Stacy 27, Estep 0, Oliver 2, T. Stacy 0, Hibbitts 0, Hardin 0, Jones 0.
Northwood......4 12 18 7 -- 41
Hurley.........9 9 18 18 -- 54
3-point goals - NW-none, Hur-none. JV Game-Hurley won.
Girls game
NORTHWOOD (69)
K. Puckett 10, Broyles 7, Hess 10, Cassell 12, Crawford 6, Williams 13, B. Hagen 4, B. Puckett 4, K. Hagen 3.
HURLEY (39)
McCoy 4, Stacy 5, Cook 15, Cline 11, Hurley 0, Estep 4, S. Charles 0, B. Charles 0, Matney 0.
Northwood.......16 13 19 21 -- 69
Hurley..........6 12 5 16 -- 39
3-pont goals - NW 1 (K. Puckett), Hur 2 (Cook, Cline). JV Game-Northwood won.