Blackman powers past Pioneers in district tilt

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

David Price (34) goes up for two of his game-high 21 points against the Pioneers’ Kyle Thompson Friday night. (Rob Nunley photo)

MURFREESBORO — The Pioneer basketball team came into Friday night’s game at Blackman looking for their first District 7-AAA win, but a steady effort from the Blaze allowed the host team to keep the Pioneers at bay and take a 65-48 victory.

The Blaze, who improved to 9-6 overall and 3-1 with the win, pulled away steadily throughout the contest, as they led by just two points after one quarter, by eight at the half and by 12 after three periods of play.

With the loss, the Pioneers fell to 6-7 overall and 0-4 in league play.

Led by the trio of David Price, Ben Sneed and Kris Lee, the Blaze were able to win their second straight behind consistent athletic play that their guests from Warren County struggled to stop late in the game.

Price, who led all scorers with 21 points, turned in a double-double by hauling in 10 rebounds. Sneed had 16 points on the night, and turned in the game’s defining highlights with back-to-back slam dunks in the fourth quarter — the second coming on an “alley-oop” from Price which brought the home crowd to its feet.

Sneed’s aerial display capped a 13-3 run, which helped put the game away after two Brooks Majors 3-pointers had brought the Pioneers within single digits at 49-43.

Lee, who finished with 19, hit four of his five shots from the field in the third quarter, helping turn a 31-23 halftime lead into a 49-37 Blackman advantage.

After Majors’ back-to-back treys opened the fourth, the Blaze out-scored their guests 16-5 down the stretch to seal the win.

The Pioneers hit just 38 percent of their shots in the game (19-of-49), while committing 16 turnovers and being out-rebounded 31-29.

Reese Bishop led the way with 17 points, while Majors added 11. Brandon Adcock and Kyle Thompson scored six each, Ross Marlowe added four, Todd Gilley had three and Josh Nunley scored one point.

Isaiah Phillips, Brian Talley and Micah Morrisey added three each for Blackman.

The Pioneers return to action Tuesday night, when they kick off a five-game homestand with a District 7-AAA matchup against the Cookeville Cavaliers. Cookeville suffered a hard-fought 51-47 loss to district-leading Riverdale at home Friday night.