Glendale hands County Line first loss 84-46

GREENWOOD — Springfield (Mo.) Glendale prides itself on being a good 3-point shooting team. The Eagles showed that off Saturday night at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena.

Jaxon Davis led the way with a game-high 27 points while making nine of the team’s 18 3-pointers in an 84-46 victory against County Line in the H.B. Stewart Classic.

“We just are not very big,” Glendale coach Brian McTague said. “We just haven’t had a kid over 6-5 in our school in 25 years. We just have skilled kids who shoot the ball well.”

Glendale took a 38-23 lead heading into the break after finding success from behind the arc, making 10 first-half

3-point baskets.

County Line, which lost its first game of the season, was able to hit the first shot of the game behind the arc to open the game. Glendale then made four consecutive 3-pointers to take a 14-3 lead.

Glendale (4-2) extended its advantage out to 22-8 heading into the second quarter with an 8-2 run aided by two 3-point baskets to close out the first quarter.

The Falcons made the lead 34-14 making four more 3-pointers to open the second quarter. County Line (19-1) was able to use a 9-4 run to cut into the lead heading into halftime.

“I’m proud of our kids because I think they kept playing hard even as the lead grew,” County Line coach Joe Brunson said. “We hit some outside shots and made some little runs at them. But we just couldn’t keep it going.”

Glendale was able to push its lead out to 64-36 heading into the final quarter with six more 3-pointers in the third quarter and didn’t look back after that.

County Line was led by senior Gage Gattis and junior Pacyn Reames each finishing with a team-high 15 points.

Glendale was able to make 30 of 58 field goal attempts, while County Line just made 16 of 47 shots while turning the ball over 19 times.

“Some things that we can control we didn’t do so well at,” Brunson said. “We had too many turnovers. That hurt us on offense. We’ll need to clean that up. It’s also hard when a team shots it so well.”

The Indians, which returned four starters from last year’s team that made it to the quarterfinals of the Class 1A state tournament, finished 2-1 in the invitational tourna- ment.

“We are going to grow from this,” Brunson said. “We came out here knowing we’d see some really good competition. This is going to get ready for the rest of the season.”

County Line picked up a 68-39 victory against Greenwood on Friday along with a 56-46 victory against Providence Academy on Saturday.

“We are off to a good start,” Brunson said. “I’m really pleased with the way we have been playing. There is always room for improvement and growth. But I haven’t been disappointed with our effort at all.”

Glendale .......... 22 16 26 20 — 84 County Line ........ 8 15 13 10 — 46 Glendale (4-2): Davis 27, Johal 21, Walton 16, Quinn 10, Gilpin 6, Kerr 4.

County Line (19-1): Gattis 15, Reames 15, Bateman 6, Johnston 6, Young 2, Keezer 2.