By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
HURLEY, Va. — Tyler Cooper has made his share of big shots over the last four years, enough, in fact, to help him pass the great John Potter as the all-time scoring leader at Hurley High School.
Cooper passed Potter in Hurley’s final regular season game Saturday, scoring 20 points in a 74-65 win over a good Mountain Mission team on a night, ironically, when they honored all three state tournament teams at Hurley, including Potter’s 1993 state semifinal club.
Potter finished his career with 1,626 points. Cooper now has 1,643, including 53 in three Rebel wins last week, enough to make him the Pocahontas Coal Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph/Player of the Week.
Hurley also honored last year’s state semifinal club and the first state tournament team ever at Hurley, the 1987 team on the 25th anniversary of its Region D title.
One of its star players was Tyler’s dad and current Hurley coach Mark Cooper, who made the game-winning shot against Powell Valley in the fourth overtime of the 1987 regional finals. He’s had a ringside seat to see all of Tyler’s big shots.
“Tyler has an uncanny ability to score from anywhere on the floor,” Mark Cooper said. “He can shoot the three and he’s strong enough to post well inside. Since he was in the ninth grade Tyler’s been our go-to guy in late-game situations.
“He’s been able to hit big shots his whole career, and he’s been a much better defender this year. I really believe he’s one of the best all-around players I’ve coached or seen on the high school level.”
Tyler Cooper is, of course, just one part of a deep and talented team that hopes to make another run at the state tournament in March, if it survives Region D action next week.
Two of Tyler’s teammates, his brother Austin and 6-foot-7 center Dustin Waynick, have also scored over 1,000 career points.
“To break the record with two other teammates that have scored 1,000 makes his accomplishment even more amazing,” Mark Cooper added. “Usually if a player breaks a scoring record he’s the only legitimate scorer on the team, but that’s not the case. Tyler, Austin and Dustin are three of the best teammates to play in this area.
“One of the things I am most proud of is that all three have really improved on the defensive side of the ball, and that really makes our entire team better, even if we have an off-night shooting the ball. With Wes and Thomas we already had two of the best on ball defenders in our district.”

HONORABLE MENTION
for Feb. 6-11
Bland County (0-1 during week): Chase Hankins, 10 points.
Bluefield (2-0): D.J. Edwards, 30 points, 13 rebounds; Lykel Collier, 32 points, 26 assists including 18 points, 18 assists vs. PikeView; K.J. Manns, 26 points, 19 rebounds.
Council (0-1): Billy Presley, 19 points; Josh Viers, 14 points.
Graham (1-1): Colby Hill, 40 points including 18 points and game-winning three vs. Grayson County; Lamont Edwards, 20 points.
Grundy (0-1): Ben Rife, 23 points including his 1000th career point.
Haysi (0-1): Tyler Tipton, 25 points; Peyton O’Quinn, 11 points.
Hurley (3-0): Dustin Waynick, 51 points; Austin Cooper, 43 points.
James Monroe (1-0): Zach Hatfield, 22 points vs. Summers County; Micah Deskins, 15 points.
Mercer Christian (2-1): Jonathan Easter, 61 points; James Beckner, 57 points.
PikeView (1-1): David Keen, 34 points; Will Webster, 36 points.
Pipestem Christian (0-1): Alexs Lane, 29 points; Austin Peyton, 19 points.
Princeton (1-0): Ryan Meadows, 21 points vs. Capital; Darnell Palmer, standout on defense.
Richlands (3-1): Devon Johnson, 106 points, 57 rebounds; Gabe Hunsaker, 34 points; Ben Brown, 33 points.
Summers County (0-1): Isaiah Brown, 15 points; Josh Graham, 10 points.
Twin Valley (1-1): Chance Moore, 23 points including 10 points, 11 rebounds in win over Grundy; Daniel Hobbs, 28 points.
Note: One week remains for the Boys Player of the Week.