Sports writer
The Peabody-Burns High School Warriors won the first two rounds of the Burrton boys’ invitational this past week, but stumbled in the championship round to finish as the runner-up.
The team defeated Fairfield Jan. 20 in round one, 60-39.
The next victory came Thursday against the host team Burrton, 60-53.
PBHS faced Berean Academy in the Saturday championship game and lost, 51-31.
The team will take off a week from competition and will be in action Tuesday at Sedgwick.
Fairfield
Neither offense had a productive first quarter.
Jacob Simmonds put the Warriors on the board first with a free throw with six minutes left on the clock.
Baskets from Aaron Topham, Sean Jones, and Simmonds gave the Warriors the edge, 7-5.
Simmonds added one more free throw late in the period and the Warriors claimed the lead, 8-5, at the end of the first quarter.
PBHS had better offense in the second with the addition of 14 points.
Simmonds had seven and Brian O’Neal, Jones, and Topham each had two.
Brian Wingert netted a free throw, while the Warrior defense held Fairfield to seven and PBHS led, 22-12, at the half.
The PBHS defense held Fairfield to eight points in the third while the offense exploded with 26.
Wingert and Topham each had seven to pace the Warrior scoring.
Simmonds and Martin Hofkamp each added four and Jones and Caleb Hilliard each put in a basket.
The Fairfield offense came up with a good quarter in the fourth and added 19 to its total.
The Warriors scored 12 in the final period to hang on for the victory.
Jones and Topham led the quarter scoring with four each while Simmonds and Hofkamp each had a basket.
pbhs scoring
Jacob Simmonds, 17; Aaron Topham, 15; Brian Wingert, 8; Sean Jones, 6; Caleb Hilliard, 6; Martin Hofkamp, 6; Brian O’Neal, 2.
Burrton
Both offenses came up with 14 points in the first quarter, with Burrton shooting hot from the outside with four three-pointers.
The PBHS offense split the points between four Warriors. Simmonds led the team with six, Hofkamp had four, and Topham and Hilliard each had two.
PBHS lost the second quarter offensive battle to Burrton.
The Warriors added 13 in the period but Burrton put in 16 and took the three-point edge at the half, 30-27.
Simmonds had nine points in the second and Topham and Hofkamp each had two.
The Warrior defense came up big in the third and held Burrton to 11 while the offense added 17.
Hofkamp paced the team with six points, including two free throws. Jake Middleton added five points in the game, including a three-pointer.
Jones, Hilliard, and Simmonds each had two points as the Warriors led by three at the end of the third, 44-41.
The Warriors scored 16 in the fourth including six from the free-throw line.
Alex Santiago scored all 12 points for Burrton, including six free throws.
Topham had six points in the final period and Middleton had five. Simmonds and Jones each had a basket and O’Neal knocked down a free throw.
The Warriors escaped with a second-round victory by seven.
pbhs scoring
Jacob Simmonds, 19; Martin Hofkamp, 12; Jake Middleton, 10; Aaron Topham, 10; Sean Jones, 4; Caleb Hilliard, 4; Brian O’Neal, 1.
Berean Academy
Berean scored first in the battle of the Warriors during the championship game.
Hofkamp evened up the score with a basket and Middleton gave PBHS the go-ahead basket at 4-2 with 4:33 on the clock.
Berean tied the game at four but a basket by Wingert gave PBHS the edge with less than three minutes left in the period.
Berean evened it up with one more basket in the quarter but with four seconds left in the period, Wingert added his second basket to give PBHS the lead, 8-6.
The Berean offense scored 18 in the second quarter, including a 10-0 run at the end of the period.
The PBHS offense stalled with just four points in the second, two from Simmonds and two from Middleton, and trailed, 24-12, at the half.
Hofkamp sparked the offense with six quick points in the third.
A basket from Middleton closed the margin to eight with four minutes left in the quarter, 28-20.
The PBHS defense held Berean to 11 in the period but could only come up with eight of its own. The gap was 15 at the end of the third, 35-20.
Berean continued to dominate PBHS in the fourth. It added 16 while PBHS added only 11.
Simmonds paced the team in the quarter with nine and Topham got on the board with a basket.
pbhs scoring
Jacob Simmonds, 11; Martin Hofkamp, 8; Jake Middleton, 6; Brian Wingert, 4; Aaron Topham, 2.
