Junior Eagles down Perryville at FL tourney
FOUNTAIN LAKE — Cutter Morning Star trailed for less than two minutes at the start of the game, but went on to take a 45-36 win over Perryville Tuesday afternoon in the Fountain Lake Christmas Classic at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium.
The junior Mustangs took an early 2-0 lead, but after Hudson Yancy was fouled on a layup, the junior Eagles quickly took a 6-2 lead. They then led 10-2 at the 2:15 mark after a Yancy free throw and Hackleton 3-pointer.
“Our team runs through Hudson,” Cutter Morning Star head coach Sean Kelloms said. “He’s a transfer from Lakeside — big kid, big heart, plays with everything he has. He’s nice and physical under the rim. You know, we get him some skill sets, and he’ll be unstoppable.”
Perryville cut the spread down to 10-4 at the 1:05 mark before a 4-0 spurt by the junior Eagles to take a 14-4 lead with 14.8 seconds left. Wyatt Dreannon had a steal and layup to end the quarter trailing 14-6.
After a pair of free throws by Dreannon, the junior Eagles hit an 11-2 run to take a 25-10 lead with 1:30 remaining. The junior Mustangs hit a 6-2 run to close out the half to pull within 27-16.
Perryville opened the second half with a 6-4 spurt to cut the spread down to 31-22 before the two teams traded baskets. The junior Mustangs pulled within 35-28 with 1:19 to go in the third before Cutter Morning Star closed out the frame on a 4-2 spurt for a 40-30 lead.
Neither team scored early in the fourth, the junior Mustangs breaking the slump at the 4:22 mark with a pair of buckets to cut the spread back down to six points. The junior Eagles then put up five straight before Brock Sawyer hit a pair of free throws with 43.1 seconds left to set the final.
“I’m happy with the win,” Kelloms said. “I feel like we have a lot of stuff to work on. You know, it’s rough. You’ve got some up and down stuff there, but, you know, pull out a W is always a big thing.”
Grant Casey led the junior Eagles with 11 points, two rebounds and a steal, Yancy added 12 points, five boards and two steals, Trenton Tidwell had eight points, nine rebounds and five steals, and Daughtry Hackelton finished with six points and a steal. Jackson Duncan put up four points, seven rebounds and a steal, and Aiden Miller added two points.
Dreannon led all scorers with 18 points, 14 rebounds and two steals, Brock Sawyer had eight points, five rebounds and two steals, Hayden Harvey and Will McKinney added four points, two rebounds, and a steal each, and Caden Strecker rounded out the scoring with two
points, a steal and a rebound.
PERRYVILLE (JG) 31, CUTTER MORNING STAR 20
The junior Lady Eagles could not get their offense going as the junior Lady Mustangs rolled in their second game of the Fountain Lake Christmas Classic at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium Tuesday.
Despite losing the opening tip, Perryville did not waste any time in taking control of the junior girls game as Kate Wood converted a 3-point play 1:13 into the game. A bucket by Alena Gasca cut the spread to one before the junior Lady Mustangs hit a 6-0 run to take a 9-2 lead into the second quarter.
“We’ve still got a lot to improve on,” said Perryville head coach Troy Denn. “We have a tough time finishing. I feel like if they can make a routine layup, then we could have separated ourselves quite a bit, but that’s just junior girls. You know, normally the winner of the game is one that makes the most layups. Fortunately, we probably made just a few more than them, but we left a lot on the table.”
Wood added to the Perryville lead early in the second frame before the junior Lady Eagles put up 3 of 4 free throws to cut the spread back to six. The junior Lady Mustangs then went on a 7-4 spurt to take an 18-9 lead with 34.5 seconds remaining before Libby Hood hit a pair of free throws with 4.3 seconds left to pull within 18-11 at intermission.
Cutter Morning Star opened the second half by trimming the deficit to 18-15 just 34 seconds in, but a 3-pointer by Wood kickstarted a 9-0 run that pushed Perryville’s lead back out to 27-15. Gasca hit a jumper in the final minute of the quarter to pull within 27-17 entering the fourth.
Neither team did much scoring in the final six minutes as Perryville pushed out to a 29-18 lead before both teams hit one shot from the field to set the final.
“We got in a little foul trouble, not too bad, but I kind of left a few in, wanting them to learn how to play with some fouls and just try to fight through a little adversity,” Denn said. “You know, we’re just an average junior high team, and, you know, I think if we could finish some of those shots, those routine shots, we might be a good junior high team.”
Wood led all scorers with 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Jenny Scott and Ella Tolley had four points and three rebounds each, and Gracen Blaylock, Kendyl Griffin, Addison Millsap and Ainsley Tippen each put up two. Blaylock had five rebounds and three steals, Griffin had three steals and a rebound, and Millsap finished with two steals.
Jalea Hawthorn led Cutter Morning Star with 11 points and two rebounds, Hood had seven points, four rebounds and three steals, and Gasca added six points with three boards and a steal. Kaitlyn Geurin finished with four points, four boards and a steal, and Natalie Babb tallied two points, five rebounds and a steal.