Junior boys downed

Luke Brewer (33) drives to the basket for two points in Saturday night's loss to Rector. (Times photo/Tim Blair) [Click to enlarge]

The Piggott junior Mohawks hosted the Rector Cougars in non-conference action Saturday night at PHS, and hung with the visitors throughout much of the game. But with three of the junior Cougars scoring in double figures, the tribe dropped the contest by a final of 36-42.

Playing before a large crowd at the Piggott gym, the junior Mohawks got off to a slow start Saturday evening and were doubled-up by the end of the first quarter by a score of 7-14. But the scrappy Mohawks battled their way back into the ballgame in the second quarter, as they outscored the Cougars 13-7 in the frame. Going into the locker room at the halftime break the Cougars held on to a meager one point lead--20-21.

In the third quarter of play turnovers hurt the Tribe, and the Cougars extended their lead to four points by the end of the period--28-32. The visitors then outscored the Mohawks 10-8 in the final frame to earn the non-conference victory.

Leading the way for the Mohawks was Luke Brewer with 8 points, while Collin Benbrook had 7, Will Jett had 6 points and Austin Murray and Beau Wicker finished with 4 points each. As a team the Mohawks were 7 of 13 from the free-throw line, and they made three 3-point-field goals. For the Cougars, they were led by Dillon Shelton with 14, while Mitchell Webber and Daniel White finished with 11 points each. As a team Rector was 9 of 12 from the charity stripe, and they made three 3-pointers of their own.

With the loss the junior boys fell to 3-13 overall, and they remain at 2-9 in conference play. They were scheduled to host the Harrisburg Hornets Tuesday evening at PHS, and will visit the Brookland Bearcats this Friday, Jan. 29.