Junior Mustangs win district tournament title

The BIC Junior Mustangs (30-1) capped off their season with a 28-21 win over Corning in the finals of the 2A-3 junior high district tournament this past Saturday in Monette.

BIC jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter as Wicker Craig hit two free throws and scored inside before Gatlyn Hawkins and Ty Sipes hit back to back jumpers. Corning hit two of three free throws after being fouled attempting a three-pointer to make the score 8-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The Junior Bobcats cut the lead to 8-4 early in the second quarter with a basket inside only to see Sipes hit a jumper and Noah Ibanez score inside to make it 12-4 Junior Mustangs. Corning canned a three-ball and scored down low to cut the lead to 12-9 before Sipes hit a jumper in the lane making it 14-9 BIC with 1:59 before halftime. The Junior Bobcats hit two free throws late to make the score 14-11 Junior Mustangs.

Hawkins scored down low for BIC to open the second quarter scoring as Corning answered with a jumper making it 16-13 Junior Mustangs. Craig connected on a jumper in the lane as the Junior Bobcats hit a jumper only to see Craig score inside and Hawkins stick back an offensive rebound to make the score 22-15 BIC after three quarters.

Corning opened the fourth quarter hitting one of two free throws before Sipes had a nice reverse layup to make it 24-16 BIC with 3:01 left in the game. The Junior Bobcats got a stick back basket as the Junior Mustangs got two free throws from Craig and a stick back from Sipes to push their lead to 28-18. Corning converted an old-school three-point play with 12 seconds left to set the final score at 28-21 BIC.

“Both teams played hard and it was a game throughout. We never could get the game to a double digit lead. Both team had trouble scoring and both teams defended extremely well,” BIC head coach Taylor Layne said after the game. “Sipes is my first guy off the bench. He defended well and played well around the basket. I’m proud of him tonight,” Layne added.

Wicker and Sipes scored 10 points each to lead BIC in scoring as Hawkins netted six points and Ibanez added two points for the Junior Mustangs.