Patterson leads WCMS past ‘Cats

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Thursday night at the Warren County Middle School, the Pioneers’ seventh-grade basketball team slipped past the Dibrell Wildcats 45-37 as Pioneer Brett Patterson led the charge with 25 points on the night.

Patterson opened up the game with back-to-back baskets for the Pioneers, but Cody Bond answered the call for Dibrell with back-to-back goals with just under three minutes left in the period. Patterson nailed a “3,” and Lake Kirby hit a pair of free throws to put Warren County on top 9-4 at the end of the opening period.

The Pioneers worked hard on the defensive boards in the second period and then went down in the paint to Mark and Patrick Harvey as they expanded their lead to 14-4. With 4:35 left in the half Dibrell’s James Mitchell hit a jumper in the paint and then Lou Christian followed with a 3-pointer pulling the Wildcats within five. Patterson answered with another 3-pointer and Tylan Martin hit to give the Pioneers a 21-13 lead at the break.

Dibrell came out in the third period and got things going on offense with Bond and Christian hitting from the outside and Justin Yott tying the game at 21-21 with 3:43 left in the third. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Patterson with under a minute remaining put the Pioneers on top 30-23 by the end of the period.

Each team made several runs in the final period with Warren County hitting for the first six points of the quarter. Dibrell got back-to-back baskets from Christian and Yott with 4:16 remaining. Mark Harvey and Kirby answered back before Dibrell hit for six points from Thomas Russell, Bond and Christian. The Pioneers closed out the final 35 seconds from the foul line to hold on for the eight-point win.

Leading all scorers was Patterson with 25 for the Pioneers. Mark Harvey hit for 14, Kirby had four, Patrick Harvey had three, Martin hit for two and Caleb Underhill added one point.

For the Wildcats, Bond led with 12 points followed by Christian with 10. Yott had five, Blair and Russell added four points each and James Mitchell had two points.