FARMINGTON — The Gentry junior Pioneers boys basketball team claimed the 1-4A conference championship with a 43-35 win over Farmington on the junior Cardinals’ home floor Saturday.

The junior Cardinals came in wanting to do in basketball what they accomplished in football, win the conference championship, but they came up short against Gentry.

Michael Ingram’s bucket on the inside pulled Farmington within 21-16 with 3:21 to go in the third quarter, but Gentry closed out the period on an 8-4 run to go up, 28-20. Brad Parker had six points in the run for Gentry.

Matt Mahan, Farmington coach, said the junior Cardinals played poorly in the first half, then made a run in the second half.

“They answered us every time,” Mahan said.

“We played with a lot of confidence and composure,” said Tim Rippy,Gentry coach.

“Gentry had a lot of good looks. Gentry madeevery good look, every open shot it seemed like they hit,” Mahan said.

“We played as hard as we possibly could. It’s something we can really hang our hat on,” Rippy said, adding he is looking forward to manymore years of basketball with this group of athletes.

Sports, Pages 9 on 02/15/2012