The Pike Patriots stayed with sixth ranked Glenwood until halftime, but fatigue set in and the Patriots fell to the Gators 69-46 on Tuesday afternoon.

The Patriots entered the game against the Gators with a lack of depth Tuesday. Not only were they missing key players due to injury, they were also short of a head coach due to an illness.

“We were just shorthanded today,” said assistant coach Matt Brown. “We had two starters and two or three others that play a lot out. That hurt us depth-wise a little bit.”

The Patriots were able to battle with the Gators in the first half and entered halftime evened up with the Gators.

In the second half, key contributor Reed Jinright got into foul trouble forcing him to sit on the bench. After electing to put a little pressure on the ball, the Gators were able to get some key turnovers.

“They amped it up on the press a little bit,” Brown said. “We had a couple unfortunate turnovers and they knocked down some good shots and there was not a whole lot we could do.”

Hunter Jones led the Patriots with 16 points while Jinright closed out the night with 13. Ethan Green had a near double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“I was extremely proud of that bunch,” Brown said. “We have had an up and down year so far and all I asked from them was to give a max effort and play as a team and they did exactly what I asked them.”

The Lady Patriots struggled with turnovers in a 55-25 loss to the top-ranked, undefeated Glenwood Gators.

“They had more talent than what we had,” said head coach Robert Hawkins. “I was proud of the girls. I told them after the game that when you play those types of teams you obviously want to win, but the biggest thing is you want to get better and I think we did.”

The Patriots had two players score against the Gators led by senior Lauren Johnson who had 16 points. Mya Terry finished the night with nine.

The Patriots turned the ball over 16 times in the first half against a relentless press.

“It’s the same story, we can’t handle the press,” Hawkins said. “They pressed us for the first couple of minutes and they jumped out to a 12-0 lead. The backed off into their half court and we were able to get back to within 3 before they put it back on. We struggle with the press.”

With the loss, the Lady Patriots fall to 6-6 on the year. Both the boys and the girls will back in action on December 27 when they participate in the Lakeside Tournament.