Weather sponsored by:
The Drew Central Pirates have qualified for the 3A State Basketball Championship Tournament after a fourth place finish at the 3A-4 Regional Tournament held at Drew Central this past week.
The Pirates would enter the Regional Tournament as the third seed out of the 8-3A Conference after the District Tournament.
Opening play against Centerpoint, the Pirates would get on the board first after a two by Blake Chandler.
The Pirates would go on to outscore the Knights 19-11 in the first quarter.
Drew Central would continue to lead the Knights in the second quarter, increasing their lead after outscoring Centerpoint 17-11 in the second quarter to take a 36-22 lead into the halftime break.
The Pirates would go on to win both the third and fourth quarters with a 21-14 advantage in the third and a 14-10 advantage in the fourth for a 71-43 win to advance to the semi-final game against McGehee.
Blake Chandler would lead the Pirates in scoring with 23, Benjamin Fulmaer with 13 with Tra’Bennett Fuller and Zae Bullard each scoring nine.
Brody James Cater scored six, Jeremiah Bodiford with four, Deegan Ward, Spencer Lowery, and Jaden Turnage with two, and Trent Burton scoring one.
The Pirates would fall in their next contest to move to the third/fourth place contest on Saturday against Lakeside.
Blake chandler would score 29 points in the 74-53 loss to the Owls.
The Pirates would finish the tournament as the fourth seed after falling to Lakeside in overtime by a single point, 60-59.
Chandler would lead the Pirates in scoring with 22 points, giving him a total of 74 points in the three tournament games.
Bullard and Bodiford would each score 11 points.
Osceola for the first round of the 3A State Championship Tournament having to face the number one seed, the Osceola Seminoles (22-5) on Wednesday, March 4, with a 2:30 pm tip off scheduled.
