A consistent and fast Warren County High School freshman Pioneer basketball team rallied in the second half where even the team manager, Trevor Evans, hit the hardwood against tough district rival Coffee County for an impressive 74-54 victory.
"We started out a little slow," said Warren County head freshman basketball coach Stephen Glenn. "We needed to do better offensively on the boards and working inside. We had a talk during halftime and made a few adjustments and played better defensively later in the game.”
Up by 6 points at the half, the Pioneers adjusted their offense, defense and attitude during the break, and an impressive result materialized as they were able not just to finish the ballgame but make a home-court statement to Coffee County as they outscored the Red Raiders, 28-10, in third-quarter action.
The freshman offense was all about synchronicity as they worked the paint like Picassso. Combined with their first-half lead, the Pioneer halftime adjustments to their inside play and defensive rebounds were spot-on as they meshed even better the last 16 minutes.
Freshman Irving Espinoza directed the team on the floor and processed the drive through the lane when needed and played smart handing the rock to teammates who reciprocated by distributing the basketball extremely well.
Espinoza, and LaCedrick Cox led the attack with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Austin Hodges was the finesse player for Warren County, hitting an impressive 5 treys during the contest from several points around the arc.
While the big-three did most of the scoring, nine players posted points. Adding to the total tally were Jerry Mrema with 8 points, Brady Gross 6, Carter Mansfield 4, and D.J. Moore, Eli Buchanan and Trevor Evans all scored 2 points apiece.
Shawn Anderson topped the Red Raider scoring with 15 points.