Sports writer
The battle of the Warriors Feb. 24 went to Berean Academy, 43-35, in the last match-up of the regular season for the Peabody-Burns High School boys’ basketball team.
The Warriors end the regular season with a 14-6 record overall.
Both offenses struggled in the early minutes of the competition.
Sean Jones opened the PBHS scoring with a basket.
Berean answered and the game was even at two.
Aaron Topham got on the board with a two, but Berean came back with a five-point run and took the three-point lead, 7-4, at the end of the low scoring first quarter.
Berean scored two baskets early in the second and increased its lead to seven, 11-4.
The PBHS offense ignited and Jacob Simmonds scored five. Topham scored a two to pull the Warriors within two at the four-minute mark.
Jake Middleton tied the game at 13 with a basket.
The Warriors then added five, a three from Topham and two free throws from Simmonds. PBHS led by five at the half, 18-13.
The PBHS lead vanished in the early minutes of the third with five unanswered Berean points to knot the game at 18.
The remainder of the period was close with PBHS in the lead once more before Berean took the two-point edge at the end of the quarter, 26-24.
Caleb Hilliard had a two, and Martin Hofkamp added four.
Early in the fourth, Berean managed to increase its lead to eight, 32-24, with five minutes, 25 seconds left in the contest.
Middleton and Jones combined for five baskets to keep PBHS within two points, 35-33, with one minute left in the game.
Middleton had one more PBHS basket but Berean scored several key free throws with less than a minute to go in the contest and defeated PBHS, 43-35.
Simmonds led the team with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Jones had eight rebounds and Hofkamp had seven. Middleton and Hilliard each had two steals.
pbhs scoring
Jacob Simmonds, 9; Sean Jones, 7; Aaron Topham, 7; Jake Middleton, 6; Martin Hofkamp, 4; Caleb Hilliard, 2.
Sub-state loss
The Warriors’ season came to an end Monday with a 48-45 loss to 12-9 Moundridge in the first round of sub-state action.
Look for a detailed report in next week’s edition.