Lions capture All ‘A’ crown
Published 11:34 pm Wednesday, January 8, 2025
By Shane Shackleford
Sports Writer
For four-plus years, Pineville coach Brad Levy has patiently built the Mountain Lions in the hopes that his program will one day break the glass ceiling of championship success.
Finally, the Mountain Lions broke through it.
Facing a daunting road of defending champion Williamsburg, a much improved Oneida Baptist squad, and perennial All-A contender and archrival Barbourville, Pineville made its way to its first All-A crown since 2017 with a resounding 66-57 over the Tigers in the finals of the 13th Region All A Classic at Lynn Camp on Wednesday night.
“I’m so happy for our players and our community. This win was all about them. We’re on top tonight but nobody would volunteer to go through the things we had to experience in this process to get there,” Levy said. “To finally kick down the door and have our players experience winning a title is probably the most rewarding thing I’ve been a part of as a coach.”
As was the case throughout the tournament, Pineville rode its much-improved defense to its 10th win and championship gold.
The Lions were led in scoring by their trio of senior guards. Cam Puckett had a monster night on both ends of the floor for Pineville, scoring 18 points and guarding Barbourville leading scorer Riley Corey for nearly all of the contest.
Ashton Moser continued his recent run of strong play by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the winning effort.
Although below his average, Sawyer Thompson scored 11 points and played an outstanding floor game adding eight rebounds and eight assists.
Pineville advances to the All-A state tournament on Jan. 23 and will play the winner from the 10th region at 10 a.m.