SK PIONEER SPORTS: Neers Avenge Jag Loss

The Pioneers hosted the Cooper Jaguars tonight at the Joe in front of a somewhat smallish crowd. The boys were hoping to avenge their early season 42-37 loss to Cooper at the Mason County Christmas Tourney where SK struggled to make shots. I was running a little late this evening; I had just passed the big town of Nicholson when the tip went up. By time I parked beside the school, the score was already 9-0 in favor of the good guys. The early pace of the game was fast and furious; the Jags were keeping pace with the Neers in a game that was flat out up and down the floor. SK plays fast but it looked like they were trying to get the game even more up tempo to counter some of the Cooper size. SK posts a blistering 24 points on the board in the first quarter; remember, they only scored 37 in the whole game in the first match-up. SK cruises in the second quarter to a 42-29 half-time lead behind some very nice shooting by Cody Chambers.

Besides the fast pace of the first half, the other thing that stood out was the chipiness. There were lots of extra shots and jabs going on after the play. The refs called several and-one attempts but they missed several jabs and pops that got almost funny at times. Reilly Barnes hit a 3 and was umm, knocked to the ground in front of me. Andrew Sampson came over to help Barnes up and got a nice shove by the Cooper player just whistled for the foul. No biggie I guess as the refs pretty much let both teams play tonight. The game would start after 7:30 and was over by 9:00. Oh yeah, Barnes would knock down the free throw with a nice roll for the 4 point play and I heard on the radio on the way home that he has now hit 17 throws in a row.

The pace of the game in the second half would slow down quite a bit. The third quarter was more of a maintain serve for SK as they would outscore Coop 14-11 for a 56-40 lead. Cooper came out in the 4th and made a nice run at SK getting the lead down to 10. The Neers would hit the gas getting the lead back up to 15 with a minute and a half to go. Steiner walked down the bench called out 5 names of subs that went in to preserve the win at a final of 66-54. A very nice effort for the Neers tonight. The boys travel to Ryle on Friday night to take on the Raiders who have had a disappointing season but seem to be turning things around lately.

Cooper 15…14…11…14--54

Simon Kenton 24…18…14…10-- 66

Cooper (10-10) -- Morgan 8, McNair-Turner 1, Cook 3, Shelton 8, Collins 11, Hathorn 7, Webster 10, Maniacci 6.

Simon Kenton (16-7) -- Kuntz 4, Mullen 9, Chambers 21, Barnes 13, Sampson 13, Munson 2, Ayers 2, Bowling 2.

Ahhhhh