Feb 7, 2008

The Ava Junior Varsity Bears played two games at home this week, defeating Mtn. Grove on a shot at the buzzer, then falling to Willow Springs on Friday, Feb. 1. Ava hosted Mtn. Grove last Tuesday night, and in the words of Coach Nathan Houk, “Probably played the worst half of the season.” The junior varsity had not played in over a week, and Coach Houk said his team looked a little sluggish in the first half. Ava only scored 12 points and was down by five points at halftime. “We had more turnovers than points, which is never a good thing,” Coach Houk observed. In the second half, Ava came out firing on all cylinders, scoring seven straight points, taking a two-point lead. Pete Leonard scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, giving the spark the team needed. From this point, the game was nip and tuck the whole way. Mtn. Grove took a one point lead with about 10 seconds left in the game. It looked like the Bears would not get a shot in transition, but Mtn. Grove tipped a passed out of bounds with 1.3 seconds left in the game. Ava set up a play to get Logan Dickens the ball for a quick shot. He got the ball about eight feet from the basket, and released the ball just before the buzzer sounded to give the Bears a 38-37 victory. Trae Shelton scored six points, and Logan Dickens, Brock Mitchell, and Matt Ritter each had five. Austin Clayton rounded out the scoring with a free throw. Willow Springs came to town last Friday night and handed the junior varsity Bears a 59-46 loss in a game that was much closer than the score indicated. Willow pulled away in the last 2 minutes of the game, utilizing a deep bench and wearing the Bears down in the end. Dickens scored 10 of his 16 points in the second quarter allowing Ava to only be down two at the half. Ava guards Mitchell and Ritter picked up the slack hitting some big threes to keep the game close. However, Ava was outscored by eight in the fourth quarter to make it a 13-point deficit. Ritter ended the game with 11 points while Mitchell and Shelton had five points each. Pete Leonard added six second-half points and Austin Underwood hit for two in the first half.