The Italy Neotribune would like to congratulate the 7th and 8th grade boys basketball squads for “representing” in the Junior High Boys Basketball Tournament hosted by Italy. Saturday was definitely worth the price of admission!

Round 1 – 7th Boys
The Italy 7th grade squad sent the Venus Bulldogs on a long trip back home by dismissing the Bulldogs after round 1.

Led by a 9-point effort, including a 3-pointer, by #12 Deiondre Cochran in the 1st period, Italy jumped out to a 13-7 lead.

In the 2nd, all the Italy starters, #33 Darol Mayberry, #3 Trey Robertson, #1 Eric Carson, #13 Justin Wood along with Cochran scored. The Gladiators took a 23-16 advantage into the break.

Halftime

Italy’s Carson scored 8-points in the 3rd, including two 3-pointers helping the Gladiators keep the Bulldogs under a tight leash. Venus finished the period strong, however, and kept it fairly close 33-21 moving into the final period.

Italy did just enough in the 4th period to win round one over Venus 39-33 and advance to the Tournament Championship game against the Mildred Eagles.

Championship game – 7th Boys
The Italy 7th grade squad battled back-and-forth with the Mildred Eagles in the Tournament Championship game. Italy’s #3 Trey Robertson was making plays all over the court while point guard #1 Eric Carson flew around the Eagle defenders.

However, down 33-32, with 3 seconds left on the clock, it was Italy’s #12 Deiondre Cochran who played the hero. Cochran rebounded an Italy miss and dropped it in the hoop before time expired to give the Gladiators 7th grade squad a 34-33 Tournament Championship victory.

Italy fans stormed the court, led by Bryant Cochran (Deiondre’s father and former coach), and celebrated with the team as they headed for the locker room.

Round 1 – 8th Boys
Thanks to Venus hitting 1-of-2 technical free throws, in the last seconds of regulation which tied the game 25-25, the Italy 8th grade squad would have to try winning in overtime.

Overtime

In overtime, Venus scored first to make the score 27-25. Italy’s #24 Tyvion Copeland drove in for the bucket and-1. The free throw missed but Copelands effort tied the game 27-27 with 2:14 left.

Venus scored again at the 1:25 mark to go ahead 29-27. Italy’s #4 Tony Wooldrige answers and ties the score again 29-29. With :31 seconds remaining, Italy’s #10 Chase Hamilton rebounds and passes the ball to Wooldridge. Wooldridge gets the ball to Copeland who delivers making the score 31-29.

Venus has a chance to tie but Hamilton rebounds the miss. Italy overthrows the inbound pass and Venus gets one more chance to tie with 3.7 seconds left. Unfortunately for Venus, their inbound pass sails out-of-bounds also, and Italy survives round one and moves into the Tournament Championship game.

Championship game – 8th Boys
There would be no comeback dramatics in this game as the Italy 8th grade squad was defeated by a wide margin. There was just no gas in the tank after their emotional win in round one over Venus.

A 3rd Italy squad was created for the tournament by mixing and matching 7th and 8th grade players together. With little time to prepare, Italy’s 3rd squad lacked chemistry and were forced to make an early exit in round one. Overall, however, it was a good day for both Italy 7th and 8th grade squads as they managed to win 3-out of -5 games in the tournament.

Nice job guys!