The Pioneer boys’ basketball team jumped out to an early lead Monday night against visiting Skyline, but when your rival is in the building nothing is easy. And the Eagles went out of their way to make things uneasy for the home team.
Skyline rallied a couple times in the second half to pull even but never led in the game as the talented Pioneers answered every challenge thrown their way to score an impressive 59-50 win over Skyline in a well-played, well-coached and well-officiated SEC Red contest.
“It was a tough, well earned win,” said Pioneer Coach Rich Marion. “Skyline is athletic with multiple guys that can drive it and shoot it, so they’re tough to guard. It came down to getting stops in the fourth quarter and getting out in transition.”
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Pioneer had huge contributions off the bench in the fourth quarter from Carson Strauss, Amir Lee and Morgan Lyle. And Nelson Sompa quarterbacked the offense extremely well throughout the game. There is a lot to be impressed with this Pioneer team. They have great depth, very good balance on the offensive end and never seem to get rattled – at least on Monday night.
Marion is spot-on about Skyline. They, too, have plenty of talented players who can score inside and outside and it was only a matter of time before they put a run together to get back in the game. And they did that a few times in the second half.
Pioneer improves to 11-3 overall on the season with a nice bounce back win following a tough 51-49 loss on Jan. 27 to Belleville. The Eagles fall to 8-8 on the season and have lost three close games in a row following a win over Dexter on Jan. 29.
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The Pioneers had a balanced attack. Senior Carson Strauss had 13 points (including 10 in a big third quarter), senior Tyler Mutinda finished with 12 points, senior point guard Nelson Sompa also had 12 points, senior Nate Freisthler had nine points and junior Amir Lee had six points.
Skyline also had balance scoring. Junior Jake Rademacher had 11 points, junior Braylan Brown had 10 points, junior Noah Silkworth scored 8 points, junior Ben Solomon had 7 points and senior Abdo Alqady had 5 points for the Eagles.
Pioneer got off to a strong start and took an 11-2 lead on a three-pointer by Jordan Harrison. A triple by Freisthler pushed the lead to 16-8. The Eagles cut the lead to 16-12 on a basket by Solomon but Pioneer’s Sompa hit a tough shot inside at the buzzer to give the home team an 18-12 lead after one quarter.
A basket inside by Skyline’s Brown cut the lead to 22-17 with 4:29 left in the first half. A basket off a rebound by Freisthler gave Pioneer a 24-19 lead. The Eagles made their move and a triple by Rademacher pulled Skyline to within 24-23. But the Pioneers answered with two baskets inside courtesy of Mutinda to push the lead to 28-23.
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Pioneer led 29-24 at halftime.
Skyline played a strong third quarter and a triple by Rademacher brought the Eagles to within 29-27. And with 6 minutes left in the third quarter, two free throws by Silkworth tied the game at 29-29.
But Pioneer answered right away. Two triples by Strauss gave Pioneer a 35-29 lead. A three-point play by Brown cut the deficit to 35-32 and a basket by Silkworth brought the Eagles to within 39-38.
Pioneer led 41-39 after three quarters.
Back-to-back baskets inside pushed Pioneer’s lead to 47-39 with 6:36 left in the game. After Skyline’s Rademacher hit a triple, Pioneer’s Sompa answered at the other end to make it 54-45. A basket inside by Micah Powell gave Pioneer a 56-47 lead with 1:20 left in the game.
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Boys Basketball: Pioneer’s JV team tops Skyline – see WLAA photogallery
