Rally comes up short for Pioneer freshmen
After being down by nine points at the half, the Pioneer freshman basketball team fought their way back several times and pulled within two points of Oakland Thursday night. But down the stretch the Patriots proved to be too quick for Warren County as Oakland defeated the Pioneers 55-52 at home.
The Patriots were off and running with three straight baskets from Will Walker, Davis Rhodes and Jamel Hughes. Logan Seamons broke the ice for the Pioneers, hitting a 3-pointer at the 5:20 mark. But two quick layups and two back-door baskets by Oakland over a two-minute period extended the lead to 14-3. Cody Bond hit back-to-back baskets for the Pioneers during the final minute of the period and Oakland?s Hughes closed out the first with a jumper in the paint as the Patriots held a 16-7 lead.
The Pioneers picked up the pressure with their man-to-man defense, which gave Warren County the opportunity to run off five straight points to open the second period. The Patriots countered with six unanswered points, including a two-handed dunk by Hughes with 3:16 left in the half. Zach Stepens kept the Pioneers within striking distance with a 3-pointer, but Oakland crashed the boards on the offensive glass during the final two minutes of play as the Patriots came up with four points off of offensive rebounds. With two seconds remaining in the half Warren County worked the ball to Dylan Blair, who nailed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer as Warren County trailed 29-20 at the break.
Third-period action saw the Patriots continue to take advantage of their fast break abilities. Oakland hit for two quick baskets to open the period. But the Pioneers continued to chip away from long range as Seamons hit a pair of 3-pointers and Bond added a basket from the paint with 5:01 left in the period. Oakland added eight more points to its lead before the third quarter came to an end for a 41-32 advantage.
During the first two minutes of the fourth period, Warren County out-scored Oakland 9-2 and pulled within two points at 43-41 with the help of baskets from Blair, Jacob Hall and another three by Seamons. Hughes answered for the Patriots with six unanswered points and after an offensive rebound and score by Mark Harvey Warren County trailed by two once again with 2:45 left in the game. Over the next two minutes Warren County sent the Patriots to the free-throw line where Oakland hit just 2-of-11, but did manage two baskets from the floor. The Pioneers had trouble scoring in the final minute of play with the only basket coming from Blair who hit a 3-pointer with :14 left on the clock, which made it a 54-52 game. Tyler Davenport went to the line for Oakland and hit the front end of two, which secured the Patriots victory.
Seamons hit for 18 points to lead the Pioneers. Blair had 10, Harvey added eight, Bond added six, Hall had four, Stephens added three, Jordan Young had two and Michael Brewer had one point.
Walker had 20 points, Hughes had 17 and Darius Rhodes had 11 points to lead the Patriots.