Catawba Valley 2A Conference No. 5 seed Bunker Hill did not play like a 7-16 team on Monday in the first round of the league’s postseason tournament at Draughn, as the Bears easily handled the fourth-seeded Wildcat boys basketball team, 68-51.
After both teams came out cold, the Bears heated up in the second quarter and stayed hot, while Draughn was lukewarm at best the remainder of the contest. The ’Cats (14-11) managed to win the first quarter, 14-13, but Bears senior Taylor Simmons poured in 10 second-quarter points as Bunker Hill outscored Draughn 18-10 in the frame.
Holding onto a 31-24 halftime lead, the Bears came out in the third quarter and put the game away with a 14-11 scoring advantage to lead by 10 points going into the final period. Sophomore Jordan McGinnis scored 12 fourth-quarter points to lead his team in the tournament opener.
“We could not get into any type of rhythm tonight and losing our starting point guard Prescott Pinnix to an ankle injury earlier in the day did not help any,” said Draughn coach Steve Shuping. “We were flat against a hot-shooting Bunker Hill team and the outcome was obviously not what we wanted.”
McGinnis scored a team-high 28 points, while Simmons ended with 19 and sophomore Colton Chapman added nine in the Bears’ win.
Senior Thomas Russell scored 11 points — nine in the first half — to pace Draughn, while fellow senior Adam Manns added nine points and senior Austin Helms chalked up eight in the disappointing loss.
Bunker Hill meets Monday’s West Caldwell-Bandys winner on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the campus of Catawba Valley Community College, while Draughn is likely to retain the league’s No. 4 seed entering next week’s 2A state playoffs.
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