SPORTS
Indians beat Petrolia despite missing four players
The Nocona Indians were able to survive a game against Petrolia on Tuesday night with half of their team being suspended.
The Indians took care of the Pirates 52-31 to stay undefeated in district play and in first place.
Nocona was coming off a nice win against Olney on the scoreboard 65-40, but it proved costly. A scuffle on the court during the third quarter of that game led to consequences felt first on Tuesday and in the next few games.
Johnny Stone, a senior starting post player, was most involved and will miss the next three games. Players Karson Kleinhans, Jose Gomez and Oscar Salomon left the bench during the episode and for that were suspended one game, which was Tuesday’s game.
With only one day of practice and in a some players cases the day of the game, Nocona had to survive with moving three JV players up to varsity and one of them in the starting lineup. Landon Fatheree, Kyle Waters and Walker Murphey stepped up and combined for four points, seven rebounds and one steal.
The heavy lifting was done by the four remaining varsity players, all senior starters who had multiple years of varsity experience.
Petrolia came in with a 2-1 district record and were looking to pull the road upset with the Indians looking vulnerable. Early in the game, the Pirates were doing that.
The only baskets either team could make were 3-pointers. Nocona was having trouble driving to the basket as Petrolia’s tall post player was blocking several shots in the first quarter. Only a steal and breakaway layup from the Pirates were the only other basket scored as both team’s knocked in three 3-pointers as Petrolia led 11-9.
Nocona then stepped up its defensive intensity, denying the Pirates tall post player post up possessions, closing out better on perimeter shots and rebounding well.
This allowed the Indians to run in transition were they kept finding Javier Gaytan open on the perimeter. He made three 3-pointers in the second quarter alone and scored 11 of his team’s 17 points.
Petrolia’s only chance to score came with one free throw trip where the team missed. With Nocona outscoring the Pirates 17-0 in the second quarter, the Indians were in firm control 26-11 at halftime.
Petrolia’s offense did bounce back in the third quarter, more than doubling its first half total and finding relative success doing everything it wanted to do. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they could not stop the Indians.
Nocona made four 3-pointers as a team and even found ways to cut to the rim and score despite the size disadvantage.
The Indians outscored Petrolia 16-15 which meant they still kept a double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter up 42-26.
Nocona’s defense came alive again in the final period as the pace slowed down. Only two baskets were given up which allowed the Indians lead to grow more as the game went along.
Nocona won 52-31.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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