WARNER — The Vian wolverines basketball team finished fourth in the Warner Eagles Classic, which took place Thursday through Saturday.
The Wolverines lost the third-place game 6245 to the Westville Yellowjackets on Saturday afternoon after falling 62-56 Friday night in the championship semifinals to host Warner. The Wolverines opened the tournament with a 65-37 rout of Buffalo Valley on Thursday afternoon.
The three-day event was a rough one for the Lady Wolverines, who lost both of their games — 47-22 to Davis in Thursday afternoon’s opening-round game and 38-29 to McCurtain in Friday night’s consolation semifinals. There originally was slated a seventh-place game for Saturday morning, which would have been against Westville, but it was learned Friday night both seventh-place games were scrapped.
In the boys’ third-place game, the Yellowjackets (5-8) led from start to finish, building as much as a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. A basket by Yonsi Grass with 5:39 left in the third quarter cut the Vian deficit to 4335, but the Wolverines (58) got no closer.
In defeat, Grass scored a game-high 15 points and Masyn Wright added 12 points to lead Vian, followed by Trace Sanders with six points, followed by Dante Glass with four points, Jacob Brannick and Brayden Rodriguez with three points each and Cash Collins with two points.
In the boys’ championship semifinals, a basket by Joe O’Neil with 53 seconds left in the opening period knotted the game at 11-all entering the second quarter A conventional threepoint play by Grass with 6:05 remaining before halftime gave Vian a 2017 lead The Wolverines enjoyed a 33-27 halftime advantage.
However, the Eagles outscored the Wolverines 18-6 in the third quarter to take a 45-39 lead after three periods.
A 3-point basket by Warner’s Reed Pickering gave the Eagles their largest lead of the night at 5-42 with 4:53 left to play.
The Wolverines got their deficit cut to six points at 62-56 with 14 seconds remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by Grass, but they got no closer.
In defeat, Grass scored a game-high 21 points to lead Vian, followed by Wright with 14 points, O’Neil with nine points, Sanders with four points, Glass and Jacob Brannick with three points each and Collins with two points.
In the boys’ openinground game, the Wolverines jumped out to a 19-10 lead after a quarter, which became a 34-21 halftime advantage and a 49-26 lead after three periods.
For the game, Grass scored a game-high 22 points to lead Vian, fol-lowed by O’Neil with 15 points, Sanders with 10 points, Glass with nine points, Wright with four points and Jacob Brannick, Ethan Pollock and Caden Brannick with two points apiece.
In the girls’ openinground loss, a basket by Vian’s Avery Wright cut the Davis lead to 3-2 with 7:29 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Lady Wolverines (1-11) got as the Lady Wolves (14-3) took a 14-8 lead at the end of the period, which became a 24-13 halftime advantage and a 40-20 lead going into the final period.
In defeat, Rebel Simon scored six points to lead Vian, followed by Wright, Halli Russell and Kala Gibbins with four points each and Shelbie Glass and Rayleigh Terrill with two points apiece.
In the girls’ consolation semifinals loss, a pair of free throws by Terrill with four seconds left in the first quarter broke an 11-all tie for a 13-11 lead for Vian after the first eight minutes, but the Lady Bulldogs doubled the Lady Wolverines 12-6 in the second period for a 23-19 halftime lead for Mc-Curtain. McCurtain’s 9-2 third period upped its advantage to 32-21 going into the fourth quarter.
A free throw by Skyelar Locust with 59 seconds left got Vian as close as eight points at 37-29, but the Lady Wolverines got no closer.
In defeat, Locust led Vian with seven points, followed by Wright with six points, Gibbins and Terrill each with four points, Russell with three points, Simon had two points and Glass had a free throw.
