Despite opening last week with a promising win, Peabody-Burns boys fell in their final two games at Centre’s Cougar Classic, cementing a fourth-place finish.

The Warriors lost 55-22 to Centre on Saturday, and coach Bob Kyle said the game came down to execution.

“We tried to set up plays to run and we just weren’t focused,” he said. “We set stuff up and just didn’t carry it out.”

Peabody-Burns was down 17-5 by the end of the first quarter.

A key statistic for the team was rebounds, with Centre tallying 14 offensive rebounds to 15 defensive rebounds for Peabody-Burns. The Cougars ended with 42-24 advantage in total rebounds.

The Warriors played mainly zone defense, which helped with their win earlier in the week, but Kyle said it couldn’t make a difference Saturday.

“We had success Tuesday night with that zone and we ran it like we need to run it,” he said. “The last two nights, for some reason or another, we just didn’t want to run it the same we have. I’ll fix that Monday.”

After falling behind 34-8 in the first half, Peabody-Burns had its best results to start the second half.

The Warriors tallied seven points in the third quarter and limited Centre to six points.

The team had multiple players come up from junior varsity to participate in the tournament, which Kyle said was a valuable learning opportunity.

“It was really important,” he said.

“These guys will be our future for next year. Every time they can see a varsity floor helps them that much for next year.”

Girls fall short of comeback

Peabody-Burns girls suffered a string of losses last week at Centre’s Cougar Classic, but not for lack of effort.

The Warriors lost their Saturday game 35-22 to Solomon, but kept the deficit to single digits most of the game.

After the Gorillas ended the third quarter up by eight points, Peabody-Burns defense allowed no points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.

They used that momentum to cut into the lead, but the Warriors weren’t able to pull closer than five points.

After closing the gap, Solomon managed to break the Warriors’ defense with a 3-pointer.

Peabody-Burns’ chances were spoiled when the team started racking up fouls. Solomon hit seven of eight free throws, while the Warriors’ offense struggled down the stretch.

Trading turnovers favored the Gorillas as the fourth quarter wore on, as the Warriors came up empty on all but two possessions in the final three minutes.

Just four players tallied points, but three of them had at least six. Anna Eldridge led Peabody-Burns with eight, followed by Skylre Stucky and Kaete Johnson with six each, and Mackenzie Eden at two points.

It was the team’s third loss of the tournament, but the Warriors kept the score closer Friday and Saturday than Tuesday.

Peabody-Burns struggled scoring Friday, but limited Elyria Christian in a 26-11 loss to the Eagles.