Eagles, Bulldogs reach finals

After a week away from the court, the Warren County Elementary Basketball Association tournament reconvened Thursday night, beginning with a nip-and-tuck boys? semifinal matchup between Dibrell and Morrison.

The Eagles came away with the victory, holding off a second-half comeback attempt by their Wildcat counterparts to win 31-30. They?ll move on to face Eastside in the championship game, scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 at Dalton Gym. Dibrell?s boys will face Irving College in the consolation game Monday at 7:15.

Both Morrison and Dibrell got off to a bit of a slow start Thursday, but a late surge from the Eagles gave them a 9-4 lead by the end of the first quarter.

That narrow margin would prove to be important, as Dibrell out-scored its foes 10-9 in the second quarter, trailing by an 18-14 margin at the half, and matched Morrison basket-for-basket in the third, as the Eagles maintained a 24-20 lead.

Alex Welcome and Landy Curtis scored early in the fourth for Dibrell, knotting the score at 24-apiece, but a bucket from Hunter Dye, who finished the night with 14 poitns, as well as a free throw from Rob Parsley gave Morrison a five-point lead (31-26) with less than two minutes to play.

Dibrell tried to pull itself back into the game, but a pair of misses at the free-throw line by Curtis proved costly for the Wildcats, who missed all four of their attempts from the line during the game. Kris Callendar and Adrian Pena both scored in the final 20 seconds for Dibrell, but the Wildcats? comeback came up a point short, as Morrison survived for the win.

Bulldogs 46, Tigers 22

Eastside?s undefeated boys made their way into the championship game with relative ease, building a double-digit lead early on the way to a 46-22 rout of Irving College in Thursday?s other semifinal.

Caleb Northcutt finished with a dozen points, including his team?s first five as they went ahead 12-0 before Robert Harris found the basket for the Tigers with 2:16 to go in the period.

Harris scored all 10 of his team?s first-half points and finished the game with 16, but he couldn?t single-handedly bring his team back from their early deficit, as they trailed 16-2 after a quarter, 29-10 at the half and 40-15 entering the fourth.

Gavin Lewis had nine for the Bulldogs, while Adam Hollandsworth scored eight, Luke Hillis had seven and Gage Myers added six points. Jason and Jesse Carlson had two each.

Lee Wade had three for Irving College, with Sam Shay posting two and Zack Rubley adding a free throw.