Beech Tree News Network

Butler County Middle School basketball season came to a close Friday night at the GRVC Tournament.  After snow prevented the event from happening last Saturday, both seventh and eighth grade teams traveled to Breckinridge County Friday night.  The seventh grade team took the floor first to play the number one seed in the tournament, Hancock County.  A very skilled Hancock County team jumped out to an early lead, putting 20 points on the board in the first quarter.  The Bears struggled to find the scoreboard and get the ball down the floor against the Cougars tough full court press.  The Cougars pulled out of their press after the first quarter, relieving some of the pressure on the Bears.  Although the Bears fought hard, they just were no match for Hancock County.  The Bears lost 40 – 13.  Scoring for the Bear was Justin Elms with 5, Sage Graham 4, Wyatt Dean 2, and Trevor Dockery 2.

The second game of the night slated the number two seed, Ohio County, and the number three seed, Butler County.  Butler County’s eighth grade team were no strangers to the Eagles.  These two teams had met two previous times this season with the teams splitting, with each team getting the win on their home court.  Both teams started off a little slow on the offensive end of the floor and the first quarter came to a close with Ohio County having an 8-6 lead.  Butler County came alive offensively in the second quarter with five Bears scoring and putting up 14 points to give the Bears 20 points  going in to halftime.  Ohio County’s Sandefur answered the call and scored 13 points himself in the second quarter and had a total of 18 in the first half to give the Eagles 23 points.  Coach Donaldson did some halftime adjustments and pulled the Bears into a box and chaser, putting Brennan Grubb on Sandefur to shut him down.  The move was effective.  The Bears only allowed him 7 points in the second half.  Brendan Shanklin served the Bears well, both offensively and defensively, by putting 9 points on the board and pulling several valuable rebounds.  Will Moore was the Bears offensive force on the night scoring 17 points of the Bears.  Possibly the biggest factor of the night though was free throw shooting for both teams.  The Eagles traveled to the free throw line 25 times Friday night.  The Bears went to the free throw line 15 times themselves but were only able to capitalize 5 times.  The Bears lost a heartbreaker 48-40 after being tied at 32 going into the fourth quarter.  Others scoring for the Bears were Grubb with 7, Skyler Moore 3, Caleb Beasley 2, and Patton Allen 2.

Story by Kim Grubb, Beech Tree News