Goshen, Pike County advance in area tournament

Published 9:02 am Wednesday, February 8, 2023

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Both the Goshen Eagles and Pike County Bulldogs won their Area Tournament matchups on Tuesday night.

Goshen topped the Pike Liberal Arts Patriots by a score of 52-44 in the first round of the Class 2A, Area 4 Boys Basketball Tournament in Goshen. Goshen and PLAS battled back-and-forth in the first quarter, trading leads, with the Eagles holding a 12-10 lead going into the second period. The Eagles closed out the half with a 9-0 run and led 27-17 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Pike Lib trailed by as many as 14 points but late in the period began to claw their way back into the game with a 10-0 run. Levi DeBoer cut Goshen’s lead to 34-33 with a pair of free throws with 1:05 left in the third. Goshen then started to heat up quickly. A Makayel McBride layup extended the Goshen lead back to 36-33 with 36 seconds left.

Chase DeBoer goes up for a layup for the Patriots. (Photo by Josh Boutwell)

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Goshen converted another layup and then KJ Bristow stole Pike Lib’s inbounds pass and McBryde hit another layup to put Goshen ahead 40-33 going into the fourth quarter.

Goshen again stretched its lead back out to 12 in the fourth quarter. Pike Lib was able to cut the lead down to three again with less than 40 seconds remaining but clutch free throws from the Eagles secured a spot in the Area 4 Semifinals.

McBride led Goshen with 16 points, while Bristow and Jayden McNabb scored 11 points each. Chase DeBoer led PLAS with 15 points, while Levi DeBoer chipped in with eight points and KC Bradford had seven points. Will Rice also earned six points in the loss.

Pike Lib’s first season in the Alabama High School Athletic Association comes to a close with a 3-23 record, while Goshen advances to the Area 4 Semifinals to face off with No. 1 seed Highland Home at HHHS on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Zion Chapel also plays Luverne in the other semifinal game, at Highland Home, at 5:30 p.m.

The Pike County Bulldogs dominated the New Brockton Gamecocks 78-37 in the semifinals of the Class 3A, Area 4 Tournament at Opp High School on Tuesday. PCHS jumped out to a 17-8 lead in the first quarter and ballooned that lead to 39-15 at halftime. Michael Walker scored 12 points in the first half for the Dawgs.

The second half was more of the same as Pike County outscored NBHS 39-22 in the half. Trey Davenport scored seven points for PCHS in the fourth quarter and a total of 12 different Pike County players scored in the win. Walker led the Bulldogs with 20 points, while Chimarion Brown scored 14 points and Ian Foster chipped in with 11 points in the win.

Pike County will play No. 1 seed Opp in the Area 4 Championship on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m.