Hume and Bronaugh advance, to meet again

Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Bronaugh junior Ryan Brooks tries to block Sheldon's Andrew Leavell during Tuesday's Class 1, District 12 tournament quarterfinal game in Hume. Bronaugh won 65-36 and will play the hosts Thursday.

By Joe Warren

Nevada Daily Mail

Two traditional Vernon County Conference teams won and two more were eliminated in the first round of the Class 1, District 12 tournament in Hume Tuesday.

The hosting Hornets dominated the higher-seeded Miami Eagles, leading by as many as 28 points before settling for a 60-45 win.

The Hornets were the fifth seed going into the tournament while Miami was seeded fourth.

The Hornets were led by James Salters, who scored 17 points, and David Burns, who scored 16.

Hume broke open a tie game in the second period by scoring 10 unanswered points for a 21-11 lead.

By halftime the lead was 29-16 and in the second half the Hornets continued to control the court as they went up 56-29 with 3:35 left in the game before emptying the bench.

The win gave Hume only their second victory against the Eagles this season in four tries. Hornet coach Scott Morrison said it was a matter of the team playing well for four quarters.

"We did tonight (play well for four quarters), finally," Morrison said. "Hopefully we do Thursday night."

Thursday Hume will take on Bronaugh in the district semifinals, after the Wildcats knocked off Sheldon 65-36.

Bronaugh started the game with a 9-2 run and the Wildcats were up 24-4 as the first quarter ended.

The second quarter was more of the same as the Wildcats used a full-court press and a 2-3 zone as their half-court defense, creating numerous Sheldon turnovers and scoring a lot of points in transition.

By the break Bronaugh was up 45-10.

Tyler Judd, scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, including all of his five 3-pointers.

In the second half Sheldon settled down and was able to get a little offense going, mostly against the Bronaugh second team, and the game ended with the Wildcats up by 29.

There was a long break between the Hume and Bronaugh games as they waited for a referee to arrive, causing the Bronaugh-Sheldon game to start one hour behind schedule. Bronaugh coach Tim Judd said the break is what caused him to use the press for the first time this season, as well as the zone defense.

"It was a last minute decision," Judd said. "We hadn't pressed all year. I just thought 'let's do something different'."

Judd said he wanted to give the Wildcats something fresh to think about, trying to prevent a cold start.

"(The press) made the pace pick up a little bit and I think it got us going," Judd said.

Sheldon coach Jason Irwin was just hoping for a closer game.

"They're a good team," Irwin said. "We just wanted to contend."

In the third game of the night Northeast Vernon County lost to Drexel 72-51, ending their season.

Also, Montrose defeated Ballard in the other district quarterfinal.

Bronaugh will face Hume for the fourth time this season in the district semifinals Thursday. Bronaugh won all three previous meetings, but two of them were close until the end.

"We don't have an advantage (over Hume)," Judd said. "But we at least know that we can beat them. It's not going to be easy."

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