In a showdown of two of this year’s 13th Region All “A” Classic favorites, Pineville moved into the semifinals with a 57-49 win over Williamsburg on Saturday at Lynn Camp High School.
“I was proud of our kids for weathering the storm early and overcoming a slow offensive first quarter. We’ve really relied on our defense the last couple games. Our guys are starting to figure out that we’re going to go as far as our defensive effort and rebounding will take us. We hung in there early, then it got easier for us as we got stops and got out in transition,” Pineville coach Brad Levy said. “Williamsburg is a good team and gave us coaches headaches trying to prepare for slowing them down.”
Senior guards Sawyer Thompson and Ashton Moser led the Lions with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Cameron Puckett added 11 points.
The 8-4 Lions are scheduled to play Oneida Baptist in the semifinals on Tuesday. Barbourville will take on Lynn Camp in the other semifinal.
“I really feel like our early season schedule prepared our players for this game,” Levy said. “We’ve played some really tough competition that has tested us and helped us grow.”
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The Pineville Mountain Lions rode a strong first quarter surge to defeat the Red Bird Cardinals 78-35 in The Lions Den.
Sawyer Thompson led the charge with 15 points to pace the Lions. Cam Puckett continued his strong run with 14 points. Senior Kaiden Robbins added 12. Eighth grade guard Noah Slone added 10.
The Cardinals were led by guard Daughson Whitehead’s 13 points. Ashton Lewis and Trevor Osborne both tallied 11.