After beginning the season with three consecutive victories, a 75-48 win over Crossett, 77-62 over Dermott, and 73-33 over Parkers Chapel, the Drew Central PIrates dropped four consecutive contests before entering conference play this past week.
The first loss of the season would come in tournament play at the Fountain Lake Classic by host team Fountain Lake.
The Pirates could not seem to find their range throughout most of the contest against Fountain Lake, scoring eight points in the first quarter behind Tralon Miller’s four points.
Fountain Lake would outscore the Pirates 15-8 in the quarter.
The Pirates would cut Fountain Lake’s scoring in the second quarter to 10 points, but would only muster six points themselves on a free throw and a three-pointer by Tramond Miller and a pair of free throws by Nick Bailey.
At the half, Fountain Lake led 25-14.
Drew Central’s Drew Burton led the Pirates in the third and fourth quarters in scoring with Burton scoring six of the Pirates’ seven third quarter points and nine of the 13 fourth quarter points.
Fountain Lake would outscore Drew Central 11-7 in the third and 14-13 in the fourth to take the 50-34 win.
Drew Burton was the leading scorer for the Pirates, scoring all of his 15 points in the second half of the contest. Nick Bailey and Tralon Miller each scored six points with Tramond Miller scoring five. Kade Bodiford rounded out the Pirate scoring with two points.
Drew Central would face one of the top teams in 3A on the second night of the Fountain Lake Classic on Tuesday, November 22, taking on the Baptist Prep Eagles out of Little Rock.
Kade Bodiford would lead Drew Central in the first quarter, scoring six of the 12 Pirate points, but Baptist Prep would outscore the Pirates 17-12 in the first to hold a five-point advantage.
Ja’Corrian Love would score four points in the second quarter as the Pirates would be outscored by the Eagles 17-10 to give Baptist Prep a halftime lead of 34-22.
Both teams would play evenly in the third quarter with each team scoring 11 points in the quarter with Baptist Prep taking a 45-33 advantage into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, all of Drew Central’s 14 fourth quarter points would be scored by Kade Bodiford as Baptist Prep would out score the Pirates 15-14 in the quarter to take the 60-47 win.
Kade Bodiford led the way for the Pirates, scoring 27 points in the contest. Ja’Corrian Love scored six, Tramond Miller with five, Drew Burton scored four, Nick Bailey with three, and Tralon Miller scoring two points.
The Pirates would return home for their next three contests beginning on Thursday, December 1, hosting the Star City BullDogs.
With the noticeable absence of several Pirate players, Drew Central would get four points from Kade Bodiford and five from Drew Burton to help the Pirates outscore the Bulldogs 15-12 in the first quarter.
Star City would return in the second quarter to outscore the Pirates by one point, 15-14, in the second quarter with the Pirates maintaining a two-point advantage at the half, 29-27.
The Bulldogs continued to slowly chip away at the Pirate lead in the third quarter, trailing by one point, 37-36, to begin the fourth quarter after besting the Pirates in the quarter 9-8.
Star City would get their best scoring output in the fourth quarter, taking the lead and outsourcing the Pirates 18-13 in the quarter to take the 54-50 victory.
Drew Burton led the way for the Pirates with 17 points followed by Kade Bodiford with 11 and David Jordan with 10. Tre’Bennett Fuller added six with Will Watson and Dayton England rounding out the scoring with two points each.
Returning to Drew Central Gymnasium on Friday, December 2, to begin the annual Mini-State Classic hosted by Drew Central, the Pirates would face off against fellow 3A Conference competitor the Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs, who are a member of the 3A-5 along with Baptist Prep.
The Pirates, still playing with a short roster for the contest, got out to a slow start against the Mustangs, scoring only five points in the first quarter with Drew Burton scoring four points and Tre’Bennett Fuller scoring the other point.
For CAC, junior Samuel Maddox had the hot hand in the quarter, connecting on three three-pointers in the stanza to help the Mustangs get out to an 11-point lead, 16-5.
Burton continued to lead the Pirates on the scoreboard in the second quarter scoring nine points in the quarter followed by Alex Preddy, who established himself as a presence in the middle for the Pirates, with six points but the PIrates would be outscored in the quarter 18-16 with the Mustangs holding a 34-21 lead at the halftime break.
The Mustangs were able to extend their lead over the Pirates in the third quarter, outscoring Drew Central 20-12 in the quarter to take a 54-33 lead into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth, the PIrates would get three-pointers from BUrton and LaMarcus Bolden to outscore the Mustangs 10-9 but would fall short on the scoreboard, 63-43.
The loss would mark the Pirates fourth consecutive defeat to fall to 3-4 on the season.
Drew Burton would lead the Pirates in Scoring with 16 points followed by Alex Preddy with 14. Kade Bodiford would add six, Tre’Bennett Fuller and LaMarcus Bolden scoring three each, and Will Watson rounding out the scoring with one point.
Returning on Saturday for their second contest in the Mini-State Classic, the PIrates would snap their four game skid with a 65-33 victory over Jacksonville Lighthouse.
The Pirates would open the 2022-23 conference season on Tuesday, December 6, with a 57-48 win over the Smackover Buckaroos at home and with an 82-60 victory on the road against Camden Harmony Grove.
With the three consecutive wins, the Pirates improved to 6-4 on the season and 2-0 in 3A-8 Conference play.
The Pirates will return to action on Friday, December 16, hosting the Monticello Billies in the annual Showdown in M-Town rivalry game.
Games are set to begin at 5pm with the junior girls set to take the court first followed by the Lady Pirates vs the Lady Billies, followed by the Pirates vs Billies.
Whoever takes two of the three games claims the rivalry trophy.
