Pioneers pummel Warriors

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard

Josh Nunley (44) goes up to the basket while being defended by White County’s Seth England during first-half action Tuesday night at Sparta. (Rob Nunley photo)

SPARTA — The Pioneer basketball team won its second straight District 7-AAA contest Tuesday night, using a balanced scoring attack to pick up a 70-68 road win over White County.

Four players scored in double figures for the (14-10, 3-7 district) Pioneers, who guaranteed themselves at least a No. 6 seed in the district with the victory.

“I was proud of the effort we gave, and the effort we’ve continued to give the past few games,” said coach Doug Keil. “It’s good to see.

“This is a tough place to play, but we came out ready to play and maintained it.”

After a relatively close first quarter, which saw Reese Bishop score six of his team-high 18 points to help give his squad an 18-12 edge, the Pioneers blew the game open in the second period.

Back-to-back turnovers led to wide-open 3-pointers from freshman guard Brooks Majors, who finished with a career-high 12 points, and the Pioneers’ lead expanded to 21 points (40-19) through the waning moments of the quarter before a brief surge from White County closed the half with the Pioneers on top 43-26.

Warren County turned its defensive pressure up even more in the second half, forcing 13 turnovers in the third quarter to go on top 64-43.

“We talked about coming out with fire, and making sure they didn’t get back into the ball game,” Keil said. “That’s something that’s been difficult for us at times, but we did a good job of that tonight.

“When you’re playing well, it’s sometimes tough to keep working hard the entire game. But we were able to maintain our focus tonight, and that was good to see.”

Randal Harrell finished with 15 points for Warren County, which also benefited from 11 points from Kyle Thompson. Cody Hillis finished with eight — all scored in the third quarter, while Breu Bonner had four on a perfect night at the free-throw line.

Ross Marlowe scored three, while Ethan Rutledge, Josh Nunley and Warren Swann had two each. Andy Harrell rounded out the winning tally with one point.

Seth England’s 20 points led the way for White County, while Adam Drake had 16. B.A. Young, Seth Daniels and Justin Brown scored four each, Daniel Johnson, Ryan Qualls and Jeff Neal each scored three, Torey Hess had two and Brandon Will finished with one.

The Pioneers take on Blackman on the road tonight, looking to avenge a 72-64 loss suffered at home last month.