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Thursday, Feb. 16 – With balanced scoring and strong defense, the Parry McCluer High School boys basketball team earned a 71-47 home win over Covington in the Pioneer District semifinals on Thursday night in Buena Vista.
The second-seeded Fighting Blues (17-8 overall, 10-2 district) advanced to the Pioneer District championship, which will take place on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at top seed Narrows.
With the win, the Blues assured themselves of a home game in the Region 1C quarterfinals next Tuesday.
The Blues, who had won two close games against third-seeded Covington (15-9, 7-3) during the regular season, went on a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to build up a 20-9 lead. From that point on, PM led by double digits for almost all of the rest of the game.
After leading 34-20 at halftime, the Blues outscored the Cougars 22-14 in the third quarter to take a 56-34 lead into the fourth quarter. With a large crowd of fans cheering them on, the Blues stayed comfortably ahead for the rest of the game, allowing their starters to rest in the closing minutes.
Landon Catlett led PM with 16 points and had six rebounds and six steals, John Snider scored 14 points and led the Blues with 11 rebounds, and Isaac Griffin stepped up with 14 points and two steals. Evan Cook scored nine points and led PM with nine assists, and Nathan Glass chipped in eight points.
Purcel Turner led Covington with a game-high 18 points, Jayden Sammons added 12 points, and J’yon Smith chipped in seven.
The Blues committed nine turnovers, while Covington had 19 turnovers.
For the full story and photos from the district tournament, please see our Feb. 22 newspaper.
