GENTRY -- Shiloh Christian boys' basketball coach Brent Hester said his team's best chance to win is usually in a lower scoring game. But Friday night's game at Gentry took that to a bit of an extreme.
The Saints put together a 9-2 second-half run on a night when points were tough to come by and pulled away for a 33-25 4A-1 Conference victory.
"I kind of thought it would be the kind of game where neither team would get away from the other, but I didn't think it would be in the 20s," Hester said. "We play a lot of games in the 40s because that's where we think we're best. But I don't think either team shot it very well. We might have shot it an ounce better and that was the difference."
Shiloh Christian (4-11, 2-2 4A-1) ended the third quarter with a driving layup by Reed Lowe, who finished with a game-high 11 points, for a 26-17 advantage.
Cole Cripps scored early in the fourth quarter after a steal to pull Gentry (8-5, 1-3) to within seven. But the Saints got a 3-pointer from Logan Foster and a stickback by Sean Sutton for a 31-19 lead with 4:40 left in the fourth.
Hester said getting a little breathing room in the second half allowed his team to play with a little more confidence.
"That daylight we got in the second half allowed us to loosen up," Hester said. "We relaxed and shot it a little better."
Gentry coach Sean Price said his team could never get anything going, thanks to an ice-cold shooting night.
"We missed a lot of shots," Price said. "We were 12 of 50 from the field and 1 of 21 from the 3-point line. If we make five more shots, its a completely different ballgame. I didn't get mad at them. They just couldn't make shots.
"We turned them over 20 times, but we didn't score a point off any of them. We didn't shoot a free throw. You can't win a basketball game that way. I told them if we hold a team to 33 points, we should be coming in here celebrating. But not when you shoot like that."
Brent Barker led Gentry (8-5, 1-3) with six points.
GIRLS
GENTRY 54
SHILOH CHRISTIAN 35
The Lady Pioneers had a big answer for a late Shiloh Christian challenge.
Gentry (4-8, 1-3 4A-1) went on a 14-0 fourth-quarter run, after the Lady Saints had pulled within two.
Shiloh Christian got within 33-31 with seven minutes, 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But the Lady Saints (1-14, 0-4) didn't score again for more than four minutes. They didn't manage a field goal for almost six minutes in the quarter.
The duo of Haley Borgeteien-James and Rachel Lawrence combined for 12 points in the run. Those two were responsible for most of Gentry's offense on the night.
James led all scorers with 20 points, while Lawrence chipped in 18, including four 3-pointers.
Veronica Adams led Shiloh Christian (1-14, 0-4) with 17 points.
BOYS
Shiloh Christian 33
Gentry 25
Shiloh 9 8 9 7 -- 33
Gentry 4 9 4 8 -- 25
Shiloh Christian (4-11, 2-2): Lowe 11, Foster 7, Sutton 6, Wilson 5, Ney 2, Barke 2.
Gentry (8-5, 1-3): Barker 6, White 6, Faulkenberry 4, Hockenberry 5, Cripps 2, Juilerat 2.
GIRLS
Gentry 54
Shiloh Christian 35
Shiloh 10 7 11 7 -- 35
Gentry 15 8 10 21 -- 54
Shiloh Christian (1-14, 0-4): Adams 17, Ruiz 8, Taylor 8, Breeding 2, Sandefur 2.
Gentry (4-8, 1-3): Lawrence 18, Bills 2, Morris 7, Little 5, Ward 2, James 20.
Other Games
The Pioneers fell to Huntsville in an away game on Jan. 6 by a score of 70-42. No other statistics on the Huntsville game were available to the Eagle Observer by press time.
Sports on 01/14/2015