Semi final play at the Scottsbluff junior high boy’s basketball tourney had a match up between top seed Sidney and fourth seed St. Agnes. A perfect third quarter enabled the Crusaders to roar past the Raiders 43 to 34. The game was played Tuesday as the the Academy improved to 7 and 7 for the year. Alliance outscored Sidney 18 to 0 in the third to overcome a 3 point halftime deficit. Chief Cody was the Academy’s leading scorer with 20 points while adding 7 tallies was Emerson Trumble.
Early on, it was the Raiders making the plays. Sidney snagged a 4 point lead before a hoop by Tatum Devlin and a free throw by Tee Johnson made it a one point affair. After another 2 by the Raiders, the Crusader offense went into high gear. It was Cody doing most of the damage. Three Cody free throws along with a pair of twos by the Academy guard helped the Crusaders take the lead. SA also got first period points by Mason Conyers and Trumble to take a 15 to 6 lead after the end of the first.
Sidney responded with a strong second to retake the advantage. St. Agnes would score just 4 points in the period, all coming from Cody. The Red Raiders began the scoring with 7 in a row that made it a 15 to 13 ball game. At the midway stage, two hoops by Cody kept the Crusaders in the lead. Back to back treys by Sidney ended the period with SA down 22 to 19.
Not only did St. Agnes score 18 tallies in period #3, the Academy shut out the Raiders. Six straight points by Cody early in the period gave SA the lead at 25 to 22. The spurt continued with Alliance getting twos from Trumble, Cody, and Devlin to surge ahead 31 to 22 with under 2 minutes left in the quarter. Quarter 3 came to a finish with the Crusaders getting buckets by Conyers, Jackson Chasek, and Liam Pena. Heading to the fourth, the Crusaders were up 37 to 22.
Alliance was held to just 6 fourth period points but it was enough. Three points by Trumble in the early stages kept a Sidney rally in check. With 3 minutes remaining, a deuce by Pena made it a 42 to 29 contest. Alliance’s final point came from a free throw by Cody in final moments.
Final Alliance 43 Sidney 34
SA 15 4 18 6 43
SID 6 16 0 12 34
Scoring for the Academy Cody 20 Conyers 5 Johnson 1 Trumble 7 Pena 4 Chasek 2 Devlin 4
St. Agnes will end their season on Thursday playing in the championship game vs Scottsbluff.