Phil Campbell comes back to win A-Junior championship
Phil Campbell’s Madden Welch drives past Tharptown’s Dario Chavez.
The Phil Campbell Bobcats come out on top in the A-Junior ninth-grade boys division of the Franklin County Varsity Basketball Tournament.
Nick Galloway dribbles around a Phil Campbell defender.
Tharptown junior high cheerleaders cheer on their Wildcats.
Tharptown’s Ty Engelthaler avoids Bobcat defenders on a layup.
Phil Campbell’s Logan Cooper defends a shot from Tharptown’s Bryson Borden.
Trailing for much of the first half, the Phil Campbell Bobcats came out of the locker room with a stepped–up defensive effort to come from behind, beating the Tharptown Wildcats 38-25 for the Franklin County Tournament Championship.
Tharptown jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first quarter and extended that lead to 15-9 at halftime. The Bobcats, however, outscored the Wildcats 13-6 in the third quarter to take a 22-21 lead.
Hagan Raper scored eight points and drained two three–pointers to kickstart the Bobcats. Madden Welch also hit a three in the third.
The Bobcat boys continued their run in the fourth, outscoring Tharptown 16-4, getting six points each from Welch and Logan Cooper.
Raper led Phil Campbell with 17 points, followed by 10 points from Cooper. Welch added nine points, and Daniel Chaney had two points.
Ty Engelthaler led Tharptown with nine points, followed by Dario Chavez with six points, Nick Galloway with five points, Christian Lucas with three points and Josh Maggerise with two points.
SEMIFINALS: Phil Campbell 48, East Franklin 36
Raper scored 19 points to lead the Phil Campbell Bobcats past the East Franklin Rebels 48-36, which propeled the Bobcats to the finals of the tournament.
Phil Campbell jumped out to an 11-4 first quarter lead and extended the lead to 28-19 by halftime. The Bobcats added to their lead at the end of the third quarter, 38-28.
Following Raper in scoring were Welch with eight points, Lucas Mather with seven points, Dylan Barber with seven points, Cooper with six points and Brayden Reeves with three points.
Blake Baker led East Franklin with 15 points, followed by Ethan Hallman with 11 points. Isaac Duboise added five points, Jacob Landers four points and Mikey Camp with one point.
SEMIFINALS: Tharptown 49, Belgreen 19
The Tharptown Wildcats dominated the Belgreen Bulldogs 49-19 to advance to the finals of the tournament.
Tharptown led Belgreen 6-5 at the end of the first quarter but built some cushion in the second quarter, taking an 18-10 lead into halftime. The Wildcats began pulling away in the second half and outscored Belgreen 15-4 in the third quarter and 16-5 in the fourth quarter.
Englethaler and Chavez led Tharptown, scoring 14 points each. Bryson Borden added seven points. Galloway and Maggerise scored four points each. Lucas, Cesar Rueda and Daniel Jimenez scored two points each.
Jack Dill led Belgreen with nine points. Carlos Alban added five points, Chris Bentley three points and Mason Harley two points.
QUARTERFINALS: Belgreen 40, Vina 27
The Belgreen Bulldogs beat the Vina Red Devils 40-27 to advance to the semifinals of the Franklin County Tournament.
Vina led Belgreen early, 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, but Belgreen claimed the lead in the second quarter to take a 19-11 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 28-19 at the end of the third quarter.
Alban led Belgreen with 13 points, followed by 11 points from Dill. Miguel Cruz Perez added nine points, and Uriah Thompson added seven points.
Matthew Patterson led Vina with 13 points. Brody Raper added nine points, Lane Easterling four points and Zac Sparks one point.
