CRESTVIEW — Shoal River Middle School's boys basketball team captured the county championship Feb. 11 with a 73-52 win over Davidson.
SRMS finished their regular season 12-1, and 7-0 in conference play. The Mustangs beat Lewis in their opening round 55-38 to go on and host the finals.
Davidson finished second in season play, and won its tournament opener, beating Meigs 55-54.
The finals had top-seed Shoal River hosting the second-seed Panthers. Shoal River led 20-19 at the end of the first quarter and 31-28 at the half. The Mustangs increased their lead to 54-44 at the end of three before pulling away for the big win with a 42-point second half.
“We played with much more energy during the second half and were able to take advantage of several turnovers that allowed us to make some easy buckets,” Shoal River Coach Mitch Buckelew said. “Davidson shot the ball well. I thought foul trouble was a factor for both teams.
“Our bench helped us out, and our guys just kept pounding away. It was an exciting game with a packed gym that was a little loud, which is fun.”
Shoal River finishes the season 14-1, with its third championship in the last four years, and four championships in the last seven years.
Shoal River Middle School's boys basketball team includes:
●Eighth grade: Dallas Stone, Austin Carroll, Kamauri Horn, Chris Johns (Fellowship of Christian Athletes' Influence Award winner), Markelar Johnson, Jace Accurso, Ty Washington and Jaheim James
●Seventh grade: Coleman Gillis, Ray Sanders, Jacob Gabany and Drew Gillis.
●All-conference selections: Stone, Horn, Johns and Accurso.
WHO'S WHO
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Shoal River boys win county basketball title