In seventh grade boys action, the Pleasant Home Eagles topped the Straughn Middle School Tigers 22-20 last night in Straughn.

Both teams started off slow in the first period with the Eagles taking a 5-3 lead. Logan Royals hit a 3-pointer in the first to give the Eagles an early lead.

The Tigers got on track in the second period thanks to stellar defense and solid shooting. At the end of the first half the Tigers were out front 12-9.

In the third period, Straughn’s Matthew Cook dropped the hammer on a long 3-pointer, that helped the Tigers hold a 15-13 lead after three periods. The Eagles, at one point, in the third held a 13-12 lead.

The Eagles’ Brendon Douglas was on fire to start the fourth period. Douglas scored the first 6 points, of the period, to take a 19-15 lead. With just about two minutes left in the game the Tigers’ J.P. Thomason buried a 3-pointer to cut the Eagles to just 1 point, at 21-20. The Eagles extended the lead to 22-20 when Jacob Price hit one-of-two free throws with two-seconds left on the clock.

Douglas was the night’s leading scorer with 14 points, eight of which came in the fourth period. Royals added 3 points for the Eagles.

“We played good in the second half, but the first half we were just going through the motions and playing timid,” Eagles’ head coach Troy Turman said. “We hit free throws tonight, and we were able to finish.”

Cook was the Tigers leading scorer with 9 points, and Thomason tacked on 8 points.

“We played hard, just didn’t get things done when we needed too,” Tigers head coach Scott Gafford said. “We shot the ball OK, but we missed a lot of layups. You can’t miss layups in close games like this, but they outplayed us when it mattered.”