The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The Pioneers shot the lights out against Hays! Senior Leader Lane Demontiney scored 52 points, with 36 of those coming from three-pointers. He was on fire! Eyon Sherburn also had a great game with 13 points. Aidan Morsette and Karter Jurenka both had nice games offensively. The Pioneers had 17 three-pointers in the game. They beat Hays by 33 points with a score of 94-61.

The Pioneers started strong with a great field goal percentage. Lane couldn't be stopped. He had seven three-pointers at halftime, with six coming in the 1st quarter. The Pioneers also scored 10 points in the last minute of the 1st quarter, with Lane having 8 of those points. He scored 26 of the Pioneer's 32 1st quarter points. Karter Jurenka had a big quarter in steals and rebounds, as did Aidan Morsette.

Eyon started the 2nd quarter with a three-pointer, which was filled by another three-pointer a few minutes later. Aidan had a great steal and a three-pointer as well. Eli Dixon also had a great steal, followed by a nice reverse layup. Hays started face guarding Lane to try and stop him from scoring, which did help by holding Lane to just 5 points in the 2nd quarter. The Pioneers only outscored the Thunderbirds by 4 points in the 2nd quarter, but Hays had a hard time getting back from the early quarter deficit they had. The Pioneers went into halftime up 23 points with a score of 50-27.

Eli had a big rebound and a coast-to-coast take for the Pioneers to start the second half, getting fouled and heading to the free-throw line. Karter had a couple of big buckets, including an AND1. Aidan also had some nice buckets, including another three-pointer.

Lane was not finished with his 3-point show and scored another five three-pointers in the second half, with 4 of those coming in the last stanza. The Pioneers also got some great play from their bench with a big three-pointer from Jaeson Yirsa, a Joshua Hagan rebound, a Colter Han steal, and a fast break layup from Sonny Phillips. Jayton Ophus also had a nice free-throw point, and Tommy Sant finished with a steal and a layup. The Pioneers ran over the Thunderbirds by 33 points with a final score of 94-61.

The Pioneers faced a tough NorthStar team, and it was a battle at the end, but the Pioneers came out victorious in overtime and won a very close, fun, and competitive game by 3 points with a final score of 63-60.

The Knights knew they needed to start their defensive strategy by having one man designated to guard Lane Demontiney (which I assume all teams will do at this point). That still didn't stop him from scoring 28 points, including some crucial free throws at the end of the game. Ryder Galbavy also had a great game with six three-pointers and finished with 21 points himself. Karter Jurneka had a big game in the paint, getting ten rebounds; some of them were very crucial rebounds when the Pioneers needed them.

The 1st quarter was all Ryder and Lane, with Ryder scoring 6 points and Lane scoring 7. Northstar crashed the boards in the 1st quarter and got some big buckets as well, but the Pioneers outscored the Knights 13-9 in the 1st quarter.

Northstar's big man down low in the post got hot in the 2nd quarter, and the Pioneers had a hard time stopping or blocking him out. Eyon Sherburn had a couple of big buckets to contribute to the Pioneers, as Karter Jurenka had some fantastic passes. Ryder continued his hot shooting streak with three more three-pointers, giving the Pioneers the lead by nine going into halftime, scoring 33-24.

NorthStar came out the second half ready to play and kept feeding their big man down low in the post, outscoring the Pioneers by 5. Karter again had a nice take, and Lane scored on a couple of baseline opportunities. Ryder also had another three-pointer at the buzzer, but with Northstar coming out on a mission to get some points up, they only went into the last stanza down by 4 points with a score of 46-42.

The fourth quarter was a bit of a different story for the Pioneers. It took both teams over two minutes before someone put points on the board, but when Northstar did, they kept at it and eventually took the lead from the Pioneers; they went up by 6 points. However, the Pioneers did not give up and battled back with some great plays from Eyon, Lane, Karter, and Aidan with some big steals, rebounds, and buckets. The Pioneers clawed their way back into the game and tied it back up with 24 seconds left in the game. After a turnover from both teams to end the game, both teams were headed to the bench, getting ready for a 4-minute overtime with the score tied at 57.

The Knights got another bucket from their post player and knocked down a free throw, putting them up 3 points. But as the game winded down, Lane went to the free-throw line for the Pioneers, making every single one and giving the Pioneers the lead at the end of the game. With a last-second desperation shot from NorthStar, the Pioneers came out on top in overtime to finish the game, winning by 3 points with a score of 63-60.