Dibrell’s 5-6 grade basketball season opened at home with a confident Wildcat team – fresh off a preseason tournament championship – facing the Warren County Middle School boys.
It was anyone’s game at halftime and the Pioneers outmaneuvered the Wildcats, 46-39, for the win.
Both teams ran into an equal amount of foul trouble and hit/miss ratio as Dibrell went 7 for 20 and WCMS 8 for 21 from the free-throw line.
Wildcat Nathan Elrod, instrumental in the preseason tournament win, got into foul trouble early, keeping him benched until the fourth quarter. Elrod ended with 5 points.
“We were outhustled,” said Dibrell coach Darek Elrod. “We were worrying too much instead of just playing our game.”
The worry started during third-quarter action, as halftime found Dibrell down by just 2 points. The third quarter was a chapter out of a different book however, when Warren County Middle School took advantage of almost every opportunity to score, hammering the Wildcats, 21-5.
Dibrell tried to claw back, outscoring the Pioneers 18-7 in fourth-quarter action, but ran out of time.
“We have a long way to go,” said Warren County Middle School boys coach Isaiah Phillips. “We continue to get better.”
Scoring for the Pioneers was Sawyer Seymour with 12 points, Logan Earls with 10, Kaden Rutledge had 7, Braylon Grayson scored four points, Grady Burnette and Levi Melton both had 2 points, and Jax King had 1 point.
Hitting the hoop for Dibrell were Drathan Dixon with 12 points, Matthew Young had 11, Jeremy Boren hit for 7 points, and Landon Morris and Garrison Randolph both had 2 points.