PTL Tournament Week
Braves Take Second Place
by Rick Hatfield
January 29, 2010
Braves Defeat Knights
Ryan Perkins scored 15 points in the 1st half to lead the Southern Cloud Braves to a 45 - 11 win over the Lakeside Knights in the semifinals of the PTL Tournament on Saturday morning. The Braves got away from the Knights early in this one, leading 26 - 7 at the break. All 12 Braves that were suited up got playing time in the 2nd half.
Scoring for the Braves was Ryan Perkinns with 15 points including 3 of 5 from 3 point land, Jordin Stein with 9 points and 9 rebounds, Storm Myer with 4 points, Jason McDaniel with 4 points, Dakota Cooper with 4 points, Braydon Prochaska scored 3 points, Lance Heller, Joel Jamison and Jared Knox scored 2 points each to round out the Braves scoring.
"I was really happy the way we came out in the 1st half. We got up on Lakeside early. We didn't want to let Lakeside hang around, they are too good for that. They are an improving team, that will be better next year because they play a lot of 7th graders. I thought our defense did a good job and we ran the ball pretty well in this one. We have a big test tonight, so in the 2nd half we rested some people to make sure we had fresh legs for the championship game." Said Braves Coach Rick Hatfield.
Braves Notes: The Braves go to 8 - 1 on the season. The Braves will play in the championship game for the 2nd straight year. They lost to Rock Hills in double overtime last year.
The Southern Cloud Braves lost for the 2nd time this season to the St. John's/Tipton Blue Jays. This time the game was for the PTL Championship. The Braves trailed by 8 points in the 4th quarter, but scored 6 straight points to pull within 2 points with 1:29 left in the game, but the Blue Jays pulled away in the last minute of the game for a 40 - 31 victory over the Braves.
The Braves were led by Ryan Perkins with 9 points, Jason McDaniel had 8 points, Jordin Stein and Joel Jamison had 4 points, Lance Heller, Justin Pelkey, and Dakota Cooper added 2 points each for the Braves. Connor Eilert, the fine point guard for the Blue Jays, scored 14 points to lead all scorers.
"This was a tough game to lose, but I am really proud of our kids and how hard they have worked all year. I thought Ryan played a really good game tonight, nobody wants to win more than him, and Jason McDaniel really played well. He was all over the court tonight. We just had kind of a bad shooting night and we got into foul trouble early and never did quite dig our way out of it. You have to give a lot of credit to the Jays, they are a really good group and they are very well coached. Even though we lost, this is a really fun match up because both teams play so hard and want to win so badly." Said Braves Coach Rick Hatfield. "I also want to say what an honor it has been to coach this group of 8th graders. I've had so much fun coaching this group, we'll really miss them next year, but time moves on and we have a good group of 6th and 7th graders to work with next year. They will be a year older and a year more mature and ready to play hard." I also want to thank Coach Nick Brummet. "He really did and outstanding job this year. It was great to work with him." Coach Hatfield added.
Braves Notes: The Braves end the season 8 - 2. 2nd in the PTL and 2nd in the PTL Tournament. The Braves would like to thank all of our students, parents, teachers, staff, and fans that stuck by us all year. We had a great year because of all of your efforts. Thanks again for all of your support.
