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The Drew Central Pirates would not only honor their senior Pirates and Lady Pirates on Tuesday night, but also avenge their only 8-3A Conference loss of the season securing the 8-3A Conference Championship and a Conference Coach of the Year season for head coach CJ Watson.
Hosting the Lakeside Beaver, who had defeated the Pirates in Lake Village on January 16 by two points, 61-59, the Pirates would need to avenge their loss to finish first in the conference.
Lakeside would take the opening tip and would get the first basket of the game with 7:30 on the clock.
It would be the only points the Beavers would score in the first quarter.
The Pirates would get on the board on a two by Blake Chandler and would go on a 21-0 run to take a 21-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Chandler would end the quarter with eight points with Benjamin Fulmer connecting on three three-pointers for nine points.
Lakeside would out score the Pirates in the second quarter 15-12 with Drew central holding a 34-17 lead heading into the halftime break.
Both teams would score in single digits coming out of the break with Lakeside holding the advantage in the quarter 9-7 with the Pirates taking a 41-26 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Lakeside continued to close the gap against the Pirates, outscoring Drew Central in the final quarter 15-11 but the 21-2 deficit that the Pirates created in the first quarter helped to give the Pirates the 10-point win 52-42.
Blake Chandler would lead the way with 19 points followed by Benjamin Fulmer with 10.
Tra’Bennett Fuller finished with eight, Jeremiah Bodiford with six, Zae Bullard with five, and Spencer Lowery with four.
WIth the win the Pirates secure a first place finish heading into the final regular season contest against the DeWitt Dragons on Thursday, February 12.
Travelling to DeWitt, the Dragons would get out to a 21-5 lead in the first quarter.
The Pirates would outscorimg the Dragons by a single point in the second quarter, 17-16, with the Dragons taking a 37-22 lead heading into the half.
DeWitt would take the third quarter 17-15 to maintain the lead heading into the fourth and final quarter where the Dragons would out score the Pirates 23-15 in the fourth to hand the Pirates their second loss of the season, 77-52, to close out the final regular season .
Tra’Bennett Fuller would lead the Pirates in scoring with 21 points followed by Blake Chandler and Zae Bullard with eight.
Benjamin Fulmer scored six, Karson and Jaden Turnage finished with three, Jeremiah Bodiford with two, and Brody James Cater with one.
The Pirates finished the regular season as conference champions with an overall record of 17-5 and a conference mark of 10-2.
The Pirates will enter the 8-3A District Tournament as the number one seed and will have a by to the semi-final game with the finals set for Thursday, February 19, at 5:30 pm
