ARTS & SCIENCES 50, LOOKOUT VALLEY 40Lookout Valley 4 5 10 21 — 40Arts & Sciences 12 5 11 22 — 50Lookout Valley (40) — William Long 16, Farmer 9, Gay 4, Rudolph 2, Jones, Morris, Jones, Heathington 7, Parham, Dozier.Arts & Sciences (50) — Frank Brogden 11, Craig, O’Hara, Patrick Taylor 12, Jonathan Kurtz 19, Gordon 7, Carter 1, Moore.3-point goals: Lookout Valley 5 (Long 3, Farmer, Gay); CSAS 2 (Brogden, Gordon). Records: CSAS 11-14; Lookout Valley 25-6.GRACE ACADEMY 58, VAN BUREN 48Van Buren 9 15 13 11 — 48Grace Academy 14 12 16 16 — 58Van Buren County (48) — Hitchcock 9, McDonald 9, Ayers 6, Alec Simmons 6, Tyler Turner 11, Delon 2, Woods, Holland 2, Shockley 3.Grace Academy (58) — Johnston 3, Stephen Record 11, Corey Nelson 18, Josh Smith 12, Hernandez 2, Tisdale 3, Powell 9.3-point goals: Van Buren 1 (McDonald); Grace 2 (Record, Nelson). Record: Grace Academy 17-10.
When it took off for Christmas break, the Arts & Sciences boys’ basketball team had won just two of its first 10 games and was struggling to find an identity.
But facing this season’s most consistent Class A team in a must-win Region 3-A semifinal Tuesday night at home, the Patriots jumped out to a quick lead and never trailed in upsetting Lookout Valley 50-40.
“People have criticized our schedule because it was pretty tough early and we didn’t have any players with experience from last year so we took a lot of lumps,” Patriots coach Mark Dragoo said. “Lookout Valley does a great job of controlling the tempo, but I told our guys if we could get off to a fast start and take the lead, they might not know how to react to being behind.”
The Patriots (11-14) will face Grace Academy in Thursday’s region championship game. The winner of that game will host a Class A sectional Monday, while the loser will travel. Grace held off Van Buren County, 58-48, in a game that was close throughout.