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The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots (1-1) picked up their first win of 2023-2024 basketball season 47-28 over Samson on Thursday.

The win also marked the first win under new head coach Jonny Mitchell. Pike Lib outpaced Samson 10-2 in the opening period but SHS managed to cut the lead to 16-11 at halftime. The second half was all Patriots, however. Pike held Samson to under 10 points in all four quarters and outscored the Tigers 30-17 in the second half.

Will Rice led PLAS with a career-high 14 points, while Slade Renfore, Jackson Mitchell and Chase Deboer scored eight points each for the Patriots. Coy Ingram led Samson with eight points.

The Lady Patriots were also in action on Thursday and fell 61-15 to Samson. Samson outscored Pike 22-2 in the first quarter and never looked back as PLAS was unable to score more than nine points in any quarter.

Gracie Smith led PLAS with three points in the loss, while Samson’s Brantley Edberg scored 19 points.