On Thursday, the Alliance St Agnes boy’s basketball team ventured to Scottsbluff for a pair of games versus the Bearcats. SA ended the day going 1 and 1. Scottsbluff won the opening varsity game while the Academy took the B battle. Leading scorers for the Crusaders was Mason Conyers in the opener and Tee Johnson in the nightcap.
Scottsbluff led throughout in the varsity game. The Bluffs outscored the Academy 8 to 6 in the first with the Crusaders getting tallies from Tatum Devlin and Ashton Weingart. SA would muster just 5 tallies in the second as the Cats surged ahead. Three Conyers free throws plus 2 by Declan Kirchner accounted for the Crusader points. Meanwhile, the hosts scored 14 in the period and led 22 to 11 at halftime.
In the third, the Bluffs extended its advantage by outscoring the Academy by 8. Alliance trailed 34 to 15 heading to the fourth. Conyers had a big performance for the Academy in the final 6 minutes but it wasn’t enough.
Alliance held off a late rally to win the JV affair 32 to 26. SA rolled to an 11 to 2 lead after the first thanks to tallies by Weingart, Liam Pena, Johnson, and Chief Cody. Action slowed in the second. The Academy got hoops by Cody and Johnson and held the Bearcats to just 3 points. After 2, SA was up by 10 at 15 to 5.
Slowly, the hosts started to rally. Scottsbluff outscored Alliance 10 to 7 in the third to cut their deficit to 22 to 15. Five Johnson tallies led the Alliance offense. The Crusaders also got a deuce from Pena in the quarter. SA had a 7 point advantage heading to the fourth. The finale started with baskets for the Academy by Cody, Johnson, and Weingart. Later in the period, Johnson canned a big three to give the Crusaders some breathing space. Scottsbluff clawed back to close to within 5 before a free throw by Cody seal the deal. ALL 32. SB 26
St Agnes ends their year next week with a tournament in the Bluffs.