Walker Valley junior Kenny Bunton (25) is shown scoring against East Ridge earlier this season. On Tuesday, Bunton suffered a dislocated right hip against Ooltewah and will be out of the Mustangs' lineup for an undetermined time.
photo by Dennis Norwood
(This story has been updated with doctor's diagnosis of Kenny Bunton's injury)
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Prior to Walker Valley hosting Ooltewah in a District 5-AAA basketball game Tuesday night, junior Kenny Bunton said he loved being with the Mustangs, was accepted well by new teammates and classmates, his family was thrilled with their new “dream house” and declared that his transition from East Hamilton had been an easy one.
Just over an hour later, the 6-foot-6-inch Bunton was lying on the gymnasium floor, screaming and writhing in pain from a possible dislocated right hip.
After several minutes, five or six people carried Bunton off the court and into the dressing room.
Before the game resumed, fans joined together in a silent prayer for the injured player.
The scene was surreal.
Only a few minutes earlier, Bunton, who played his freshman and sophomore seasons at East Hamilton, scored all eight Mustangs points in the first quarter, 12 of the team’s first 13 and put up 17 when he went down in a heap under the Mustangs’ goal with 10.3 seconds left in the third period.
“Early on I didn’t think (Ooltewah) could guard Kenny inside and we kept going inside to him because our outside shots weren’t falling,” Walker Valley coach Bob Williams said.
When Bunton was injured, Walker Valley trailed, 40-33.
“I’ve always said this is one of the hardest places to play in our league,” said Ooltewah coach Andre Montgomery, who earlier in the day attended the funeral of Eugene Carter, his 79-year-old grandfather. “I told our guys when Kenny Bunton got hurt Walker Valley would come out and fight hard because their warrior went down.”
Trailing by as much as 13 points early in the third quarter, the Mustangs did just that. They tied the game at 57-all on Cooper Melton’s two free throws with 0.9 seconds left in regulation. Walker Valley got its first lead of the game at 59-58 on Zac Eslinger’s layup and had a 63-59 advantage after Jacob Herd’s layup with less than two minutes left.
But the Owls, who posted a spine-tingling 90-83 win here last season, weren’t through, especially senior Jarek Boyd.
Rashun Freeman hit a free throw and layup to trim the Mustangs’ lead to 63-62. Walker Valley’s Wes Wagner answered with two free throws.
Boyd, who finished with a game-high 29 points, 16 coming in the fourth period and overtime, drove for a layup that sliced the deficit to 65-64 at the 37.7-second mark. Josh Jones, who scored 10 fourth-quarter points and finished with 17, made one of two free throws with 12.4 seconds on the clock and Walker Valley had a shaky 66-64 cushion.
At the other end, Boyd grabbed an entry pass from Edward Hayes, powered his way to a layup with 4.5 seconds remaining, made the free throw and enabled the Owls (5-4, 1-1) to escape with a thrilling 67-66 victory.
“One guy killed us,” Walker Valley coach Bob Williams said, referring to Boyd. “He dominated the fourth quarter and overtime.”
Boyd was simply relieved.
“This win tells us we can compete with any team if we play hard,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous at all on that last free throw. We shoot free throws all the time. After (Bunton) got hurt, we knew the game was going to get close and we had to come out with more intensity. I’m a senior leader and had to finish the game for my team.”
Boyd scored 11 first-half points, but had only two free throws in the third period.
Following Bunton’s injury, the Mustangs found a new spark. They started playing courageously for their fallen teammate.
Bunton spoke enthusiastically about his new team during halftime of the opening girls’ game, which Walker Valley won easily, 62-41.
“Why I came up here is because our family found our ‘dream house’ with a lot of land,” Bunton said. “I was about to stay at East Hamilton, but when we got the opportunity to move up here it was an easy decision. The family voted on what to do and we were unanimous about coming up here.
“It had nothing to do with the coaching change at East Hamilton.”
After last season, Michael Stone was fired as the Hurricanes coach and Rodney English was hired as his replacement.
Bunton said he knew most of the Walker Valley players, having played against them over the past two high school seasons and summer AAU ball.
The talented Bunton finished the final four weeks at Walker Valley and spent almost all of June working with the returning Mustangs players before getting back to his AAU schedule.
“Walker Valley is a good fit for me,” he said. “I’m happy up here and I’ve been accepted by everyone at the school.”
Just before Tuesday’s game ended, fans were asked to remain in the gym while Bunton was taken to an ambulance through the front entrance and transported to a nearby hospital.
No one left until given the OK by the game’s public address announcer.
“I’ve never seen that happen,” the veteran Williams said of Bunton’s injury. “It’s hard to play after something like that. Over the last few years we’ve been fortunate not to have anyone hurt. This year we’re losing people right and left.”
Williams said Wednesday that Bunton's injury was in fact a dislocated hip.
"The doctor put it back in place and a CT scan showed no breaks," the coach said. "We're not sure how long (Kenny) will be out until he sees a specialist."
The Mustangs (3-5, 0-2) started the game with hot-shot scoring guard Bryce Nunnelly, the team’s best perimeter gunslinger, on the bench in street clothes with a “boot” on his left lower leg.
Walker Valley’s next game is Wednesday night at Baylor.
“We have to pick ourselves up, get back out there and play,” Williams said.
The Owls started strong and Boyd scored six of the team’s 13 first-quarter points to offset Bunton’s torrid start.
Boyd hit a 3 to open the second period and his layup with 5:29 left in the half stretched the Ooltewah lead to 24-11. The Owls had a 30-20 advantage at halftime.
Bunton tossed in a free throw that was answered by a Thomas Williams field goal and Kobe Jones’ put-back as the Owls regained a 13-point lead at 34-21.
Ooltewah was up 56-50 with 1:06 left in regulation, but the Mustangs mounted their furious comeback.
“Friday night (in a loss at McMinn County) we didn’t start playing until we were down by 20 points,” Montgomery said. “Tonight when we were down four we just kept fighting and working hard on the defensive end. I was really proud of our defensive effort.”
Hayes had 12 points for the Owls.
Melton scored 11 for the Mustangs.
Walker Valley girls 62, Ooltewah 41: The Lady Mustangs jumped to a 36-16 halftime lead and cruised to the easy win behind the blistering shooting of Jacklyn Griffith, who pumped in 23 points that included seven 3-pointers.
Kathaleen Abmar tossed in 15 points and had two 3s.
Hannah Henderson led Ooltewah with 12 points and India Corley scored 11, nine in the second half.
Scoring Summaries
Boys Game
Ooltewah 13 17 13 14 10 – 67
Walker Valley 8 12 15 22 9 – 66
Ooltewah (67) – Edward Hayes 12, Jarek Boyd 29, Williams 2, Anchanattu, Kendricks 5, Hall, Jones 5, Freeman 8, McCauley 6, McReynolds.
Walker Valley (66) – Wagner 5, Conway, Cooper Melton 11, Jacob Herd 9, Eslinger 4, Williams 3, Josh Jones 17, Kenny Bunton 17.
3-Point Goals – Ooltewah 2 (Boyd 1, Hayes 1), Walker Valley 6 (Jones 3, Williams 1, Herd 1, Wagner 1).
Girls Game
Ooltewah 9 7 10 15 – 41
Walker Valley 15 21 13 13 – 62
Ooltewah (41) – Cain 2, Hall 1, A. Jones 1, Swafford 6, India Corley 11, R. Jones, Hannah Henderson 12, K. Jones 2.
Walker Valley (62) – L. Lay, Clark, Patel, White 2, C. Davis, Spann 6, Jaclyn Griffith 23, C. Lay 5, Anderson, Lawson, Kathaleen Abmar 15, P. Davis 2, Mowery 9.
3-Point Goals – Ooltewah 1 (Corley), Walker Valley 9 (Griffith 7, Abmar 2).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)