Eastside, WCMS reach Lodge tourney finals
Eastside advanced to the tournament finals in the Warren Lodge Tournament with a 48-33 win over the Raiders of Coffee County Friday night at the Charlie Dalton Gym.
The Bulldogs out-scored Coffee County in the first period 11-8. Derrin Rogers led the Bulldogs in the first period, as he hit for six points. Coffee County got a pair of 3-pointers from Jeff Riddle late in the period to pull within three by the end of the quarter.
The Bulldogs struggled in the second period, committing several turnovers, but still managed to hit for eight points while giving up only 10 to Coffee County and took a one-point lead in at the break, 19-18.
Eastside dominated the second half, as Ethan Womack and Rogers combined for 12 of the Bulldogs’ 16 points in the period. Aggressive defense by Eastside kept Coffee County out of sync and allowed them only six points in the third to take a 35-24 point lead by the end of the period.
Coffee County continued to struggle in the final quarter, as Eastside controlled the boards in the fourth and didn’t give Coffee County any offensive rebounds. Eastside poured in 13 more points in the quarter to take the win and the right to move on to face the WCMS eighth-graders in the finals. Eastside, which had advanced to the semi-final game with a 42-36 win over Dibrell Thursday night, was set to take on Centertown for third place Saturday.
Rogers led all scores with 19 points for Eastside. Womack had 15 points, Micheal Jones had six, Kenny Roberts hit for five points, Jacob Bost had two and Jared Vanatta added one point.
For Coffee County Riddle had 10 points. Robert George had six, Josh Hull and Anthony McNeese had four points each. Steven Victory, Evan Magouirk, Ben Aaron and Harrison Boyd had two points each.
Centertown beat Cannon County Eastside 43-23 Thursday night to advance, while WCMS defeated Irving College 50-6 to make it to the semi-final game.
The Pioneers out-scored Centertown in all four periods, but struggled from the floor in the first half. Jonathan Morris put in seven of the Warriors’ nine first-quarter points to keep Centertown within two by the end of the period at 11-9. In the second period Centertown had a two-point lead with just two minutes to play, when Josh Gibbs hit a 3-pointer from long range to give the Pioneers a 23-19 lead by the end of the first half.
Chase Basham took over the third period for the Pioneers as he hit for eight of their 12 points in the quarter. Centertown relied on the shooting of Levi Bain and Morris, but fatigue started to work on the Warriors, who after three periods of play found themselves down 35-25.
Centertown struggled in the final period as five points was all they could put on the board. The Pioneers kept the tempo of the game in their favor for the entire second half and in the final period added 11 points to take the win.
For the Pioneers, Basham led the way with 15 points. Shane Anderson had eight, Dexter Hillis hit for six and Gibbs added five points. Saul Simpson, Brett Simmons and Cody Nabors had four points each.
For Centertown, Morris had a game high of 17 points, Bain hit for 12 and Rush Reedy added one point.