Peebles’ Remington Beckham (5) is sandwiched between a pair of Portsmouth Clay defenders in action from the Indians’ sectional tourney win on Tuesday night. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles’ Zane Porter, left, scored 13 points in the Indians’ Div. IV sectional win over Clay on February 15. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
One of the most popular yearly events for the village of Peebles is the annual “cruise-in” that fills the street with vintage cars and classic music. For the Peebles Indians boys basketball squad, they had their own “cruise-in” on Tuesday night as they opened up Division IV sectional tournament play on their home court, hosting the Portsmouth Clay Panthers, whom came into the contest with a record of 1-19. The Indians took the lead early in the game and as expected, cruised to a 72-40 win that catapulted them into the Division IV sectional finals.
Peebles raced to a quick 10-2 advantage and added three-point goals from Zane Porter and Cory Reed to lead 22-7 at the end of the first quarter. Another Reed three-ball early in the second kept the Indians far in front and a steal and score by Mason Sims began an 8-3 run to end the first half with the home team on top 36-15. In that first half, the Panthers had no answer for the inside presence of Peebles’ Alan McCoy, who racked up 14 first half points in the paint.
A 17-8 third quarter advantage continued to stretch the Peebles lead, a big frame from Sims who added 9 points to his total over the eight-minute span, ending the period with a nice steal that he converted into an “and one” three-point play on the other end.
In the final quarter, Peebles coach Josh Arey used his bench, and got a three-pointer from Remington Beckham, a bucket from Chris Oldfield and a three-pointer from Carsen Reed to put the finishing touched on a big win that send the Indians ahead in the sectional.
Alan McCoy led the Indians and all scorers with a 20-point effort, joined in double figures by teammates Mason Sims and Zane Porter, who scored 13 apiece. Eleven different Peebles players were in the scoring column in the victory.
Malachi Loper led Portsmouth Clay with 18 points.
The 9-12 Indians now face a tough task in the sectional finals, where they will be on the road on Friday, February 18 to face #7 seeded South Webster in a 7 p.m. tip off with a trip to the district tournament on the line.
