By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

Going into last week’s Cougar Classic at Centre as co-bottom seeds, Peabody-Burns boys and girls basketball teams knew scratching out a win would require steady improvement during the three-game schedule.

It was the boys who almost pulled it off, using a spirited fourth-quarter rally in Saturday’s seventh-place game against Herington to take a short-lived lead that didn’t last, falling 54-46.

It was a game of ups and downs for the Warriors, never more up than when Bryant Young’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer turned the tables on the Railers for a 23-22 lead at the half.

It was down when Herington reeled off an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter to lead by 9, 36-27.

But a quarter-ending trey by Rocco Weertz made the score 39-32, and a quarter-opening 3-pointer by Jack Perks drew the Warriors back to within striking distance at 39-35.

Chance Elliot got into the action with a bucket, followed by a Tyler Entz 3-pointer from the top of the key, and two Jacobo Penalver free throws capped a stunning 15-0 run that gave Peabody-Burns a 44-39 lead with 5:20 remaining.

Coming out of a Herington time out full of confidence, the Warriors appeared poised to run on to their first win of the season.

Instead, along came the biggest down of all. The Warriors’ high-revving scoring engine blew a gasket, tallying just a single basket by Weertz the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, Herington regained its shooting touch and the lead, and came back to win 54-46.

Entz led Peabody-Burns scorers with 12, and Weertz and Young scored 9 each.

The Warriors’ semifinal game Friday against Wakefield showed signs of promise as they topped the 50-point mark in a tough 66-54 loss.

Elliott scored 15 and Weertz added 12.

Both games were encouraging rebounds after an opening round 67-10 pasting at the hands of Elyria.

Girls

The girls entered the tournament sporting two more players than they had at the start of the season, but they still didn’t have enough firepower to pull out a win, going 0-3 against Rural Vista, Elyria, and Wakefield.

Top-seeded Rural Vista wasted little time running away from the Warriors 64-24, and Elyria clamped down defensively, winning 45-11.

The seventh-place game against Wakefield was a different story.

The Warriors fell into a hole early, trailing 14-4 at the end of the first quarter.

Across the next three periods, Peabody-Burns battled hard defensively, holding Wakefield to single-digit scoring in each quarter. Meanwhile, the Warriors’ offense found a rhythm of sorts, scoring 6 in each period.

Wakefield won 39-22, but 10 points of Wakefield’s 17-point winning margin came in the first quarter.

Precious Kerr led the Warriors with 13 points, while Tori Pickens scored 7.