The Warren County High School boys basketball team was supposed to start play in the Woodbury Thanksgiving Classic at 5 p.m. Friday, but it seemed like the Pioneers didn’t get started until much later.Warren County fell behind 22-4 against Jackson County in the first quarter and could never fully erase the big deficit as the Pioneers lost 59-50 to the Blue Devils.Warren County (2-1) cut the lead to as little as two twice in the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers trailed for the final 30 minutes of play to lose their first game of the season.Warren County got a layup from Nick Simmons to take an early 4-2 lead with 6:15 left in the first quarter, but Jackson County scored the next 20 points to build a huge cushion by the end of the period.Simmons began the second quarter with a three-point play set up by a pretty pass from senior Mitchell McCorkle, but struggles at the free-throw line cost the Pioneers.During a four-minute scoreless stretch for each team, Warren County missed the front end of one-and-one situations three times.By the time D’Andre League ended the drought with a layup, the Pioneers trailed 22-9 but could have made it much less.Senior Jacob Reagan continued the Warren County run in the second quarter with a 3-pointer to cut the Blue Devil lead to 10, but Jackson County followed by going on a 7-2 run to push the lead back to 15 points.Junior Tucker Smith closed out the first half with a bank shot with 36.0 seconds to play as the Pioneers went into halftime trailing 29-16.The two Hunters came out of the locker room with intentions of bringing Warren County back. Hunter Daniel and Hunter Adams led an 9-0 spurt to start the second half as Warren County got the deficit down to single digits.Adams began the run with a layup through traffic with 6:15 to play in the third. He followed it up with two free throws 30 seconds later to make it 31-22.Following a defensive stop, Daniel brought the ball up the court and drilled a 3-pointer.
Disastrous first quarter dooms Warren County