PORUM — The Gore Pirates were runners-up in last week’s Cross Telephone Tournament after losing the title game 5045 to the Central Tigers on Saturday night.
The Pirates reached the finals with a thrilling 59-56 come-from-behind victory over host Porum in Friday night’s championship semifinals after knocking off the Central junior varsity 54-39.
The Lady Pirates finished fourth after losing Saturday afternoon’s third-place game 42-34 to Midway after losing Friday night’s championship semifinals 41-28 to host Porum. The Lady Pirates opened the tournament Thursday with a 29-22 win over Gans.
10-7 or 9-8
In the boys’ title game, the Pirates (9-8) led 15-8 after a quarter, but were outscored 26-19 over the next two periods to see the Tigers get the game tied at 34-all entering the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Central outscored Gore 16-11 to complete the comeback.
In defeat, Journey Shells scored 15 points and Cain Cooper added 14 points to lead Gore, followed by Burr Jaymes with seven points, Bryon McDuffie with five points, Tate Brooksher with three points and Noah Thouvenel with a free throw.
In the boys’ championship semifinal, the Pirates were down by as many as 18 points, but used a 2312 fourth quarter to complete the comeback.
For the game, Gore put a trio of players into double figures, led by Cooper with 17 points, followed by Shells with 14 points and McDuffie with 11 points. Brooksher had four points, while Jaymes added three points.
In the boys’ openinground win over the Central JV, the Pirates jumped out to a 17-11 lead after the opening period, which became a 28-18 halftime advantage and a 46-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.
For the game, Gore had a trifecta of doublefigure scorers, led by Shells with 19 points, followed by Cooper with 18 points and Jaymes with 12 points. Ayden Cox and Keeton Rowe each had two points, while Thouvenel had a free throw.
In the girls’ third-place game, the Lady Chargers jumped out to a 15-14 lead after a period, but the Lady Pirates (3-13) got the game tied at 21all by halftime. However, Midway outscored Gore 21-13 in the second half to get the win.
In defeat, Emily Daily and River Shoemake each scored eight points to lead Gore, followed by Rayleigh Moore with five points, Kaitlyn Byrne with four points, Oaklei Thornton and Paige Curran with three points each, Natalie Casteel with two points and Ricki Huckbay, Keira Rowe, Tristen Colbert and Lily Wooten each hit a free throw.
In the girls’ championship semifinals, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 12-3 lead after the opening eight minutes, but the Lady Pirates used a 9-4 second quarter to cut the Porum lead to 16-12 at halftime. However, Porum outscored Gore 2516 in the second half to secure spot in the tournament finals. In defeat, Daily led all scorers with a gamehigh 11 points, followed by Thornton with nine points, Shoemake with four points and Moore, Huckbay, Colbert and Byrne with a free throw apiece.
In the girls’ openinground game, the Lady Pirates jumped out to an 11-1 lead after period and never lost their advantage, although the Lady Grizzlies doubled them 8-4 in the fourth quarter to make things interesting.
For the game, Daily led Gore with nine points, followed by Thornton and Shoemake with six points each, Curran with five points and Byrne with three points.
