Straughn tops Pleasant Home with buzzer-beater
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 14, 2016
- Keaun Samuel goes up for a shot in a recent game. Josh Dutton/Star-News
The No. 10-ranked Straughn Tigers (4-0) pulled off a last-second victory over the Pleasant Home Eagles on Monday night to remain undefeated on the season.
“The guys played with a lot of perseverance,” first-year Tiger head coach Bradley Stephens said. “We still have a long season ahead of us and a lot of improvements to make, but we played well.”
After a back-and-forth contest for most of the night, the Straughn Tigers got a big put back basket from Matt Worley at the buzzer to give Straughn a 64-63 victory.
Hank Peeples got the Tigers rolling out of the gate with three 3-pointers in the opening period to push Straughn out to a 16-12 lead.
Justin Peeples also added a 3-pointer for the Tigers.
Pleasant Home was paced by Robert Scott, who connected twice from downtown in the first period.
The Eagles battled back in the second period with another strong shooting performance by Scott from behind the arc. Scott knocked down two more 3-pointers to give Pleasant Home a 27-26 advantage heading into halftime.
Scott buried another 3-pointer in the third period to help the Eagles to a 40-38 lead heading into the final period.
Straughn’s Taylor Rhudy caught fire in the fourth period as he connected three times from downtime to help pump up the Tiger squad.
Besides hitting the shot to win the game, Worley helped keep the Tigers in the game with a strong fourth-period performance at the charity stripe. Worley went 4-for-4 from the free throw line and hit two baskets in the final from.
H. Peeples led the way for the Tigers with 17 points in the victory.
J. Peeples and Rhudy each finished the night with 14 points.