Harmony Grove, Bauxite juniors play at district
MARTIN COUCH Sports editor

Harmony Grove vs.

Pottsville

It took a little while for the Harmony Grove junior Cardinals to get started against Pottsville in the 5AAA Junior High District Tournament at Glen Rose.

The Cardinals trailed 12-0 after the first quarter and eventually fell to Pottsville 34-14.

Jeremy Breckling got the Cardinals on the scoreboard with two free throws in the second quarter, then Michael Cotton put in a 3-pointer to make it an 18-5 game by halftime. In the third period, Breckling put in three free throws to make it a 28-8 game by the end of the third period. Two free throws from Cotton, a basket from Colt Montgomery and one from Aaron Artz accounted for all the scoring in the game for Harmony Grove.

The junior Lady Cardinals were beaten in the first round of the tournament by Atkins.

Crushers vs. Perryville

Jacob Rice put in an offensive rebound basket just before the buzzer in regulation to tie the game 33-33, but in the overtime period, the Perryville junior Mustangs pulled away from the Bauxite Crushers to win 44-43.

CRUSHERS KEVIN NAGLE PHOTOS Bauxite Crushers Tim Dunlap, above left, and Tanner Bates, above right, led the team in scoring. Below, Heath Ring puts in a shot against Perryville.

Perryville took a two-point lead, but two straight baskets by Tanner Bates put Bauxite in front. Perryville tied the game and took a one-point lead, but Bates hit a free throw and Tim Dunlap hit a 3-pointer before the end of the first period to put the Crushers up 8-5.

Rice put in an offensive miss and Bates completed a threepoint play to make it 13-8. Bates hit a 3-pointer and Kyler Hickey scored. Bates made another three-point play for a 21-9 Bauxite lead and Dunlap put in a one-handed shot at the buzzer to make it 23-11.

Bates scored the first two points of the third period and Heath Ring added a free throw before Hickey scored again for a 28-16 lead. Perryville came back quickly and cut the Crushers lead to 28-24 by the end of the third period.

Bates made a basket in the fourth period to make it a six point lead, but Perryville tied the game at 31-31 with 1:32 to play.

The Mustangs took a two point lead with 12.9 seconds left, but Rice came through for Bauxite to tie the game at the buzzer.

In overtime, Bates hit two free throws, but Perryville hit a 3- pointer. Rice scored a basket to put Bauxite up 37-36, but Perryville answered with two scores to go up by three points. Dunlap made a free throw and hit a basket with 47 seconds remaining to tie the game at 40-40, then Bates knocked down another 3-pointer to put the Crushers up with 28 seconds left.

Perryville made two free throws and hit a running jumper with 1.4 seconds left to win the game.

Bates led all scorers with 23 points, while Dunlap finished with nine points, Rice added six points, Hickey scored four points and Ring added one.