Blaze bounce back against freshmen-

Freshman hoops action Thursday night saw the Pioneer squad go head-to-head with the Blackman Blaze in the Charlie Dalton gym. After leading by four in the first period, the Pioneers let the Blaze work their way back to the front, which allowed Blackman to travel back to Murfreesboro with a 51-42 win over the Warren County squad.

Tyler Glenn, Jalen Mount and Michael Thrower put the Pioneers team out in front 7-0 in the opening minutes of the game. Sam Morton put the Blaze on the board and Alex Vondohlen added five points including a 3-pointer. But the Pioneers responded with baskets from Mount, Glenn and Thrower and held a 11-7 advantage by the end of the period.

The Blaze jumped out to a 19-17 lead with 2:07 left in the first half. Thrower picked up the pace as he netted five straight points to put Warren County back out in front 20-19 at the 1:32 mark. Vondohlen connected on a 3-pointer with 1:10 left to play. Warren County closed out half with three points, to take back the lead at 23-22. But the Blaze finished out the period with a jumper from Ryan Davenport to give Blackman a 24-23 advantage at the break.

The lead exchanged hands four times in the fourth quarter. Glenn and Caleb Underhill hit one basket each to put the Pioneers back in front 26-24 with 6:08 left on the clock. Blackman then drove the court to tie the game at 26-26. Mount hit one-of-two from the line for the Pioneers. But Blackman’s Orick Williams answered with a 3-pointer. The Pioneers tacked on two more points, while the Blaze closed out the period with four points to take a 33-30 advantage.

Down by one with 5:11 remaining, Thrower put the Pioneers out in front 36-35 after converting a three-point play. But the Blaze found a weakness in the Pioneers defense, allowing them to run off nine unanswered points to go up 44-36. Over the next two minutes Warren County had just one basket. Blackman extended its lead by adding five more points to the board. Mount scored Warren County’s last basket with :18 left on the clock as Blackman held on for the win.

For the Pioneers, Thrower hit for 14 points. Mount had 13, Tylan Martin had six, Glenn added five, Underhill hit for four and Hunter Dye had two points.

Vondohlen netted 14 points, while Ryan Davenport had 13 for Blackman.