Central’s Dragons visited Tyrone Monday afternoon and their Junior High basketball teams got in on in a thriller at the High School gymnasium.
The Eagle’s played their usual stiff man defense as the Dragon’s showed various zone defenses and trapping 1-3-1 that would give the Eagle’s fits in the second half. However, in the first half the Eagle’s handled anything the Dragon’s could throw at them and led at the break 27-19.
Tyrone’s lifeless start of the second half, and the Dragon’s up tempo 1-3-1 defense got the Dragon’s back in the game; and the lead following a 13-2 run in the third period with a 32-29 advantage. Tyrone would trail by as many as eight before getting energized by trey from Richard Crabtree followed by another from Rich Stever, getting Tyrone to within two points of the lead. With five seconds remaining, the Dragon’s led 43-42 and had their ace at the line. He intentionally missed the free throw and the Eagle’s were out and running but could not convert, and dropped a heart breaker 43-42.
Steve Franco led the Eagle’s with 12 points, followed by Jared Templeton and Jim Ferguson with 10. The visiting Dragon’s seemed to be at home in this event visiting the free throw line 19 times while converting 10 of their shots. The hosting Eagle’s would not shoot a free throw all day, and committed over 20 team fouls in comparison to the Dragon’s five for the contest. In the two contests played this year, the Dragon’s visited the free throw line a total of 41 times compared to seven for the Eagle’s. The total point difference in both games was a total of 5, which the Dragon’s survived winning both; shooting an average of 50 percent.
Tyrone won the earlier game 40-29 with another solid game from Richard Crabtree leading the way with 20 points. Kaleb Chronister and Cody Dickson both chipped in eight.
