Junction City 64 Trinity Lutheran 50
The 1A Saints traveled to Junction City to take part in the Les Schwab Eagle Booster Tournament and lost to a very athletic team in the 4A Junction City Tigers.
The Tigers (3-1) jumped to a quick 8-0 start and never trailed in the game holding a 25-15 lead after the first quarter. Trinity (4-1) tried to recoup in the second quarter but after an opening basket, Junction City made three 3’s to extend the lead to 16. The Saints then went on an 8-0 run led by a couple 3’s by Scooty Gilbert to cut the lead in half, but the Tigers made another 3 to extend the lead to 39-28 at half.
By mid 3rd quarter, the athleticism and ball movement of Junction City was wearing on the Saints. A quick 4th foul on Layton Valentine and then later having Cash Niemeyer out due to injury had Trinity relying more on its bench. Trinity was gassed but not giving up and held tight only losing the quarter 13-14 as the quarter ended with Junction City up 53-41.
The host Tigers played the clock in the fourth which prevented Trinity from making a late run and the Saints could not get the score any closer than 10 and late fouls and free throws by Junction City drove the deficit to 14 as the game ended.
The Saints played hard against a school over 7x their size and while the game did not fall their way, it remains a building block for a late season run. Trinity scoring was led by Scooty Gilbert with 22 points and Matt Eidler contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds. The Saints move to the consolation bracket with a 3:45 game against Samuel Robertson Technical of Maple Ridge British Columbia.
Go Saints!