Warriors finish regular season with two wins
Sub-state competition began Monday
Staff writer
Peabody-Burns Warriors closed their regular season this past week with two victories over Ell-Saline.
The Warriors defeated the Cardinals, 37-30, Tuesday during an overtime win at Ell-Saline. Friday, the Warriors won at home, 73-61.
PBHS began sub-state competition Monday at home against South Barber. The 15-5 Warriors are seeded second behind the host team Berean Academy at 16-3.
During the Tuesday match-up, the Warriors took the early lead, but the Cardinals came back to take the two-point lead, 11-9, at the end of the first quarter. Nathan Hittle paced the Warriors' scoring with five. Christian Bengtsson and Duane Unruh each added a basket.
Ell-Saline played a slow, controlled game in the second quarter and held the Warrior offense to only three points. Unruh sunk a free throw and Bengtsson scored a basket with an assist from Bryan Swenson. PBHS trailed the Cardinals by five at the half, 17-12.
Warrior offense stalled half of the third and the defense held the Cardinals to a basket. PBHS put up nine to take the lead, 21-19. Hittle had a trey. Brandon Crabtree, Isaac Good, and Bengtsson each added two.
Warrior offense continued to stall for more than half of the fourth quarter. Good contributed the only basket in the period at the two-minute mark. The Cardinals shot two with just over a minute left in the period to cut the Warrior lead to two, 23-21. With seven seconds left in regulation, Ell-Saline moved the ball the length of the court for a score and put the game into overtime.
Warrior pressure defense held the Cardinals to seven in the extra period. PBHS offense took charge and scored 14 and claimed the victory, 37-30. Derrick Simmonds scored six, including four at the free throw line. Good added five, and Unruh put in three.
PBHS scoring
Good 9, Hittle 8, Unruh 6, Bengtsson 6, Simmonds 6, Crabtree 2.
Friday competition
PBHS and Ell-Saline played aggressively and up-tempo during the Friday competition.
The Warriors played from behind throughout the first quarter but came back to tie the game at 14 at the end of the period. Bryan Swenson and Good had three to pace the PBHS squad. Duane Unruh, Jason Carroll, and Bengtsson each added a basket.
Swenson opened the second quarter scoring with a trey. Warrior offense was able to pull away from the Cardinals with two minutes left in the half to take an eight-point lead, 34-26. Swenson added another three to lead team scoring at six. Simmonds and Hittle had five each. Derek Benson and Bengtsson each added two.
Late in the third, the Cardinals cut the Warrior lead to four, 44-40. PBHS came back to lead by eight at the end of the period, 50-42. Good had nine. Hittle had four and Bengtsson had three.
Warrior offense poured it on in the fourth and took the win, 73-61. Good had six, including four free throws. Bengtsson added four. Benson, Simmonds, and Crabtree contributed three each. Hittle had a basket. Swenson and Ryan Wiebe each had a free throw.
PBHS scoring
Good 18, Bengtsson 11, Hittle 11, Swenson 10, Simmonds 8, Crabtree 5, Benson 5, Unruh 2, Carroll 2, Wiebe 1.
