The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The Pioneers started their District play, winning against Chinook Thursday night. Senior Kody Strutz set the tone with great passing, which led to several assists to his teammates. He also hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Braydon Cline, Issac Pedraza, and Cooper Taylor all contributed offensively. Big Sandy had great ball movement on offense, which resulted in them beating Chinook in the 1st quarter by 5 points with a score of 13-8.

The second quarter was all Wylie Snapp and Pedraza. Board after board, block after block, hustle play after hustle play, Pedraza and Snapp teamed up for some great dominance in the paint. Chinook battled, though, and knocked down some big shots and fast break layups, pulling within one point. But after a Cline fast break layup, the Pioneers went into half up 3 points with a score of 22-19.

In the 3rd quarter, Braydon Cline took over by getting steals, making great passes to teammates, and scoring 12 points. But Chinook didn’t give up and continued to knock down shots and have great pull-up jumpers. At one point, Chinook was ahead by 3 points. There were several lead changes, but the Pioneers went into the last stanza up 7 points with a score of 42-35.

The Pioneers started to pull away in the 4th quarter, and the Sugarbeeters couldn’t do much else to close the gap. The Pioneers won by 10 to put themselves in the semifinal game against CJI.

The Pioneers faced off against CJI in semifinal action losing 53-60. CJI came out ready to play, showing patience on offense. CJI had great passes to the open man and knocked down some crazy shots. The Pioneers took a bit to find a rhythm, but when they did, both Kody Strutz and Braydon Cline knocked down three-pointers. Even after free-throws attempts from Cline, the Pioneers went into the 2nd quarter down 3 points.

CJI continued to score what seemed like impossible buckets, slowly pulling away from the Pioneers, going up 8 points. But a great pass from Strutz to Wylie Snapp for an AND1, as well as a nice take and 3-pointer from Strutz, kept the Pioneers within range. The Pioneers went into halftime down 22-28.

The Pioneers came out ready to play the 3rd quarter, quickly scoring off a give-and-go within the first few seconds, scoring an AND1, and bringing them within 3 points. A great offensive rebound, a put-back by Cline, and a couple of steals from Cooper Taylor put even more momentum in the Pioneers. The Hawks had a crucial shot clock violation, which led to a Taylor 3-pointer on an out-of-bounds play, tying the game for a 3rd time. Strutz was fouled on a play and made both free throws, giving the Pioneers their first lead of the game. After a big rebound and put back by Jake Darlington, CJI had a fast break layup at the buzzer. The Pioneers went into the 4th quarter up 1 point with a score of 39-38.

CJI started breaking down the Pioneer help-side defense and scoring most of their shots from the middle of the paint like they had been doing for most of the game. The Pioneers had a couple nice takes from Issac Pedraza and Cline, but CJI had the Pioneers’ number from the middle of the key and scored several points, in the end, to overcome the Pioneers sending them to an elimination game against Turner. The final score with the Pioneers falling short was 53-60.

Against Turner, Big Sandy won 70-57. Cooper Taylor had a big 1st quarter for the Pioneers to start them off right against Turner. Taylor did well at reading the defense and getting some nice buckets from floating the baseline. His teammates saw him well and made great passes. Wylie Snapp also has a big quarter to help slingshot the Pioneers past the Tornadoes. Snapp’s big presence down low helped with putting the Pioneers up. Turner could not handle the Pioneers’ 3/4 press and had several turnovers, but battled through and only went into the 2nd quarter down 2 points.

Issac Pedraza made a dominating presence on both ends of the floor in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Pedraza had several blocks and steals and scored on some fantastic plays, scoring 14 points. Both Braydon Cline and Snapp had two early fouls, and eventually, Turner was shooting bonus free-throws early. The Pioneers went into halftime up 10 points with a score of 33-23.

The Pioneers came out of halftime, knocking down some big shots and quickly pulling away from Turner. We continued to see great defense and offense from all Big Sandy players with great patience and ball movement. Turner did their best and hit some big 3-pointers, but the Pioneers continued to shoot great from the floor and dominated the rebounds. The Pioneers beat the Tornadoes by a score of 70-57, giving them a chance to come back and play for 3rd place against North Star.

The Pioneers faced off against North Star, fighting for that 3rd place trophy and a chance to head to Divisionals, winning by 40 points 65-25. The Pioneers came out with a dominating presence, to say it lightly. The Pioneers almost held the Knights scoreless in the whole first quarter, but the Knights scored on an out-of-bounds play with one minute left. The Pioneers went into the 2nd quarter up 14 points with a score of 16-2.

The Pioneers continued to apply their 3/4 pressure, which led to several easy buckets off of turnovers from the Knights. Their suffocating defense made it hard for the Knights to score. The Pioneers went into halftime up 37 points with a score of 48-11.

Big Sandy continued their hot shooting from the floor coming out of halftime. They also continued to apply their 3/4 pressure, to which North Star had no answer. The Pioneers beat the Knights by 40 with a score of 65-25, earning them that 3rd place spot.

Besides their defense, they could hardly miss offensively. Strutz shot 83%, and Cline and Demontiney (playing with a broken hand) shot 67%. As a team, they shot 53%. Cline had 20 points, Demontiney had 15, and Strutz had 14.