The Marmaton Valley Junior High boys basketball team ran into some trouble on Thursday when they hosted Pleasanton with both A and B-teams falling to the Bluejays.
The A-Team lost 28-18 thanks to a strong defensive effort from Pleasanton in the second quarter.
The Wildcats trailed 9-6 after the first quarter but that three-point lead turned into a 10-point lead at halftime when the Bluejays held Marmaton Valley scoreless in the second quarter while they scored seven points.
The Wildcats bounced back in the third quarter and put up another 12 points but the defense couldn’t do much to Pleasanton. They scored eight to make it 24-12 going into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcat defense saved their best quarter for last scoring six points but holding the Bluejays to just four points to cut the margin down to two.
Eighth-grader Colten Woods scored a team-high eight points followed by Bryce Carman who had four. Quincy Adams and Dylan Drake each had two points.
While it was just a disastrous second quarter that set the A-Team back, for the B-Team it was the entire first half that led to the Wildcats’ eventual 24-15 loss.
Marmaton Valley got two buckets total in the first half while Pleasanton scored 18 to take a commanding 14-point lead going into halftime.
The Wildcat offense started to wake up in the third quarter, outscoring their entire first half effort with six points which were matched by six from the Bluejays to make it 24-10 going into the fourth quarter.
Marmaton Valley was able to put the clamps on Pleasanton, holding them scoring for the rest of the game but only got five points on the board before the final buzzer.
Carman had a team-high six points followed by Bryce Ensminger who had five. Woods scored four points to round out the scoring effort for the Wildcats.
Marmaton Valley will travel to take on Jayhawk Linn on Tuesday.
Wildcat 7th- and 8th-graders fall to Pleasanton
