GRAVETTE — Reminiscent of a battle fought over a year ago in a not so distant place, the Gravette Lions squared off against the West Fork Tigers at Lion Field House in Gravette on Dec. 20 for a 3A/4A district matchup.
Both teams played in the championship round of the Decatur Holiday Hoops tournament at Peterson Gym in Decatur on Dec. 5, 2015. In that contest the Tigers completely dominated the Lions to take a 82-73 victory and the trophy (a performance the Tigers repeated in this year's Decatur tournament against the Mountainburg Dragons on Dec. 3).
This year would be different, though, because the Lions roared past a stunned Tigers' team to capture a 61-48 victory and the Lions' eighth district win. Kelton Trembly provided a game-high 27 points to fuel the Gravette victory.
Gravette took the early lead in the first five minutes of the first quarter and never looked back. The Lion defense continued to hamper West Fork's offensive capability during the entire 36 minutes of the ball game. Making matters worse for the Tigers were the relentless layups and dunks players like Trembly, Chris Childress and Seth Duke performed throughout the entire third quarter and going into the last two minutes of the game when Matt Busch, Lions' coach, gave game time to his younger players.
West Fork tried several times to play catch up throughout the second half but could never get closer than 10 points.
Gravette is now 8-2 overall, while West Fork drops to 9-3.
For Busch, this win puts his team in good shape going into a tough district schedule beginning Jan. 6 against the Gentry Pioneers. Busch is pleased in the team's performance, particularly over a team that turned the tide on them over a year ago in Decatur.
"We were hot early with Kelton (Trembly) shooting the ball really well," Busch said. "I thought our guys rebounded really well and, overall, played very well.
Leading the scoring behind Trembly for the Lions was Johnson with 14, followed by Chris Childress with 13, Seth Duke with 3, Dayten Wishon and Andrew Miller each with 2.
Leading the scorers for the West Fork Tigers was Dalton Hays with 22, followed by Justin Bivens with 7, Brenon Burks and Jeff Treat each with 5, Chance Poplin with 4, Austin Hayes and Grant Franklin with 2 each and Eddy Smith with 1.
Sports on 12/28/2016