by Brian Turrel
The Piper Pirates beat Turner 71-54 in Piper on Friday night to close out the final Kaw Valley League basketball season.
Points were hard to come by in the early going, with the first basket made four minutes into the game. Turner held the lead at the end of the first quarter, 11-6.
The Pirates opened up their offense in the second quarter, collecting 23 points from six different players in the quarter, including three-pointers from Trey Bates and Ty Shelley. Piper held the halftime lead 29-24.
The teams were evenly matched through the third quarter, but Turner wasn’t able to close the gap. In the fourth quarter, Piper’s Doc Covington and Tamar Bates combined for 20 points to pull away from the Golden Bears.
Doc Covington led Piper scoring with 20 points, and Tamar Bates added 14, all in the second half. Donald Rollen paced Turner with 11 points, and Fred Poe scored 10.
Both teams will be in substate action next weekend in the KSHSAA state tournament. Tournament brackets and schedules will be announced Saturday morning.
