Ava JV Boys End Season at 17-4

Congratulations are in order to the Ava junior varsity boys’ basketball Bears for their great season.  The JV finished the season 17-4 and won the Fair Grove tournament. They also took third in the Marshfield tournament.

Coach Justin Gilmore said, “These boys had the will to win, and they always seemed to find a way to win.  I am very proud of this group of athletes not only for their season, but also for the way they act on and off the court.  Thank you parents for raising such a good group of kids!”

Ava 45, Seymour 41

The JV won a hard fought game on Feb. 20 against Seymour, 45-41.  Brandon Guengerich led scoring with 16 points, followed by Cooper Emerich and Phillip Eubanks 8, Jesse Dean and Tristan Haltom 4, and Chase Gastineau and Tyler Cox 2 each.

Seymour had a pretty good ball team and we really had to fight for this win.  The boys were down six at halftime, but they came out hot in the second half outscoring Seymour 22-9 in the third quarter.

“Our defense caused some turnovers in the second half, which led to points.  Brandon and Cooper also hit a lot of shots to bring us from a 6-point deficit to a 4-point win,” Gilmore said.

Ava 41, Mansfield 40

Ava won another close game 41-40 against Mansfield, on Feb. 24.  Brandon Guengerich led all scoring with 19 points, followed by Cooper Emerich 6, Jesse Dean 5, Phillip Eubanks and Dexter Fish 4, and Chase Gastineau 2.

Gilmore commented: “We typically score a lot of points off of turnovers and transition offense, but that was hard to do because Mansfield was taking care of the ball and making shots.  I didn’t think we were as aggressive on offense and defense as usual.  Mansfield had several opportunities at the end of the game to take the lead, but our boys fought on defense to keep the lead.”