Junior High NCC Tournament

Junior High Boys Basketball Season Comes to an End

By: Lainie Wright, “Royal Times”

On Saturday, February 8, 2014, the 7th grade boys basketball competed against Colonel Crawford in the NCC tournaments hosted at Wynford Elementary School. The Royals were not able to get a grip on Colonel Crawford’s strong offense from the beginning of the game. Colonel Crawford came ready to play and thats exactly what they did ending the game with a 37-16 win. The Royals fell behind in the first quarter and were unable to gather any confidence to put together a scoring run against the Eagles. Colonel Crawford was extremely aggressive fouling the Royals 18 times throughout the game. The Royals went to the foul line 21 times but only connected on eight free throws making up half their points for the game. The Royals defense was very aggressive but could not stop the Eagles as they move on in the tournaments. The Royals leading scorer was Blake Sparks with six points. The teams were split into a blue team and gray team this year and both teams had identical records of 1-5. The roster for the tournament game was made up of members from both teams. This lose for the Royals removes them from the tournament and ends the basketball season for the 7th graders. 

The 8th grade Royals boys basketball were also defeated in the first round of the NCC tournaments against Colonel Crawford. The game was intense from the beginning with both teams clearly wanting to win and advance in the tournament. Each team continually traded baskets throughout the game. The Royal’s and Eagle’s offenses and defenses were giving it their all going head to head the entire game. In the first and third quarters, the Royals held a small lead of just one point. Nearing the end of the fourth quarter, Colonel Crawford was able to sink a three point shot putting them ahead and they did not look back. Neither team showed any signs of giving up. The Royals crowd went wild in the fourth quarter with a few questionable calls by the referees as both teams were tied almost the entire game up to the last three minutes. After a long and hard battle, the Royals started to slow down as they struggled to make shots. They fell behind by five points ending the game and season with the score of 46-41. The leading scorers for the Royals were Wesley Purdue with 17 points followed by Cole Heinlen with 16. The 8th grade boys end the season with a 5-6 record and are eliminated from the 8th grade NCC tournament.