County Line avenges title loss, now at 42-0
CLASS 1A
COUNTY LINE 70, BRADLEY 47
OZARK — The sequel to last year’s Class 1A state championship game between Bradley and County Line wasn’t nearly as thrilling as the original.
County Line erased all the drama with a fast start, never trailing in a 70-47 win over the reigning champion Wednesday as the first round of the state tournament continued at Ozark Activity Center.
County Line (42-0) also remained one of two undefeated teams in the state by avenging a 44-41 loss to Bradley (28-7) last March.
“Getting a win in the state tournament feels good,” County Line Coach Joe Brunson said. “We started well.”
A driving basket by Trent Johnston, a bucket off an offensive rebound by Aundrae Milum and a coast-to-coast layup by Johnston after he grabbed a defensive rebound had the Indians off and running with a 6-0 lead two minutes in.
Milum added three straight County Line baskets and Caden Vest made two free throws to put County Line up 14-5. Vest added a layup, then Milum drilled a three-pointer, and scored on an offensive rebound at the buzzer for a 21-10 lead.
Veteran Bradley Coach Benny Harris called two timeouts in the first quarter, but it did little to stem County Line’s tide.
“They got off to a big start,” said Harris, who’s 1,267-290 in his career as a boys coach. “We missed a lot of shots early. Our shots weren’t falling. We got in a hole, and they’re the wrong team to get in a hole with. It’s hard to come back on them.” County Line led 40-19,at the half and increased its lead to 54-31 after three quarters, although the Indians managed just two baskets from the floor in the quarter.
“We were good offensively in the second half, but the second half we didn’t move the ball as well as we needed to and played with too much one on one,” Brunson said. “We’ll get that cleaned up.”
Bradley made a run at County Line early in the third quarter.
After Cooper Watson scored off another offensive rebound, a three-pointer by Michael Hadford sparked a 7-0 run.
“It wasn’t big enough,” Harris said. “They’re good. They’re real good.”
Milum finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Cooper Watson had 21 points and 12 boards. Johnston had 11 points, and Vest contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Hadford had 15 points for Bradley.
THE NEW SCHOOL 66, NEVADA 40
The New School wiped out a first-quarter deficit with a 21-point second quarter and put the game away with 21 more in the fourth quarter.
Quintis McNeal scored 20 points with eight in the second quarter and 10 in the third quarter for the Cougars (35-5).
Evan Goldman and Will Sturner each scored 14 points. Jackson Harris added eight points with two three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Chad Blake had 10 points for Nevada (26-7).
OZARK CATHOLIC 61, DERMOTT 44
Ozark Catholic made it three-for-three on Wednesday for the 1A-1 West Conference behind a second-half rally.
The Griffins (35-8) erupted from a 2323 halftime deadlock with a 21-point third quarter and 17 in the fourth quarter to pull away.
Will Buron scored 21 points with 17 in the second half, and Perrin Lunsford had 17 with eight in the third quarter for Ozark Catholic.
Dermott (22-14), which led 14-10 after the first quarter, was led by Markel Hawkins with 10.