12/9/22
Thursday
Greene County Tech 69, Shiloh Christian 47 (B)
GTC 52, Shiloh Christian 22 (G)
Mena 43, Alma 22 (G)
Alma 56, Mena 42 (B)
Friday
Shiloh Christian vs. Mena, 3:30 p.m. (B)
Shiloh Christian vs. Mena, 5 p.m. (G)
GTC vs. Alma, 6:30 p.m. (B)
GTC vs. Alma, 8 p.m. (G)
Saturday
Mena vs. GTC, 1 p.m. (G)
Mena vs. GTC, 2:30 p.m. (B)
Shiloh Christian vs. Alma, 4 p.m. (G)
Shiloh Christian vs. Alma, 5:30 p.m. (B)
Scrappy Airedales rally, 56-42
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
One player can’t carry the freight by himself. Alma coach Dominic Lincoln knows this.
Thursday, the Airedales got big plays from a number of players while coming from behind to beat Mena, 56-42, in the first game of the Charles B. Dyer Classic.
Israel Towns-Robinson and Easton Boggs combined for 30 points, but Camden Curd, Matthew Rodgers, Tyree McGill, and Miles Kendrick came up big as well.
“We had a lot of guys step up and make plays after a slow start,” Lincoln said. “In the first half, we’ve got to be better than that out of the gate on our home floor. We have to play with more energy and set the tone, and that’s a goal of ours.”
Whatever Lincoln said at the half must have worked.
Down 25-20 at the break, Alma opened the second half with a 19-7 run.
“They picked it up, they responded, and they executed,” Lincoln said. “Izzy (Towns-Robinson) got going, Easton hit a couple of shots, and we got contributions from other guys off the bench like Tyree, Matthew Rodgers, and a bunch of other guys.
“We tell everybody all the time, we don’t need a hero, we just need to play team ball and share the basketball.”
Towns-Robinson had the biggest game of his young career by pouring in 17 points and gobbling up 14 of the team’s 26 rebounds.
“The shots were falling and everybody was getting into it,” he said. “It feels good but the job’s not finished; we still have a lot more opportunities.”
Kendrick and McGill played well, too, combining for eight points. Kendrick hit a key 3-pointer in the first half and helped put the brakes on Mena’s inside attack by taking a pair of charges.
“Miles Kendrick, he’s somebody I had my eye on in the ninth grade,” Lincoln said. “I saw his growth in the second half of the season. He had so much confidence and swagger in his ninth-grade season. He needs to grow and get stronger in his 10th-grade year; we’re super, super proud of him.”
McGill had three points and supplied some key minutes off the bench.
“He is so active,” Lincoln said. “He plays so hard and he’s so unselfish. Plus, he loves playing defense. He’s a kid that if he scores one point a game he’s happy as he can be.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Airedales. They have two unbeaten teams ahead of them on the schedule, starting with Greene County Tech (9-0) on Friday.
Mena 43, Alma 33
GIRLS - Mena’s Emily Leonard came up big in the second half of Thursday’s game with Alma.
Leonard finished with a game-high 22 points as the Lady Bearcats outscored the Lady Airedales, 21-11, in the final 16 minutes for a 43-33 victory.
Alma took a 20-17 lead on Presli Taylor’s 3-pointer but managed just 13 points the rest of the way.
Sophomores Jordan and Jaden Gramlich finished with 14 and eight points, respectively. But the Airedales shot just 28 percent from the floor.
Sallisaw 48, Alma 43
BOYS - The Alma Airedales’ ninth-grade squad suffered a 48-43 loss to Sallisaw Thursday.
Kade Fagan and Sam Schlegel led the way with 11 and nine points, respectively. Jeremiah Schlegel added eight points, followed by Easton Daily and Owen McCoy with seven and six points, respectively.
Alma 36, Sallisaw 29
BOYS - Luke Stogsdill scored 21 points and gobbled up 11 rebounds to help carry the Airedales to a 36-29 win over Sallisaw Thursday in eighth-grade boys basketball action.
Alma struggled from the field (16-of-38) and 0–for-11 from the 3-point line. Sammy Moore and Carson Curd finished with five and four points, respectively, for the winners.
Hudson Loughridge, Boaz Benson, and Lawson Adams had two points each.