By Josh Lewis, Writer
The Senators hung tough in the Holiday Tournament championship game, but a furious comeback fell just short against the Borden Braves. Borden used a big third quarter to build up their lead and held off the Senators rally to win the tournament championship 59-54.
Borden took an early 9-0 lead before Tristan Brown got the Senators on the board with just over three minutes left in the quarter with a free throw. He hit a floater on the next trip down the court. Colton Brown hit a three for West Washington to cut the lead 12-8.
Nevin Marrs came off the bench for West Washington and gave them a spark with a three to cut the Borden lead 20-18 halfway through the second quarter. They got their first lead on a Tristan Brown free throw to make it a 21-20. A layup from Marrs made it a 23-20, but back to back triples from the Braves put them back in front heading into the break.
Colton Brown hit an early three for West Washington, but the Braves started getting some turnovers that allowed them to get out in transition and start building their lead in spurts, building a 19 point lead at one point. Meanwhile the Senators managed just five points in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter the script flipped in favor of the Senators. It was their turn to create some turnovers and get some transition buckets and start mounting a furious comeback.
Tristan got back to back scores late in the quarter to make it a 51-38 Braves lead with just over three minutes to play. Holden Russell got a score to keep the Senators chipping away. A Colton Brown three and then a pair of free throws from Russell cut the lead to single digits. Another free throw from Russell made it a 54-47 with 1:39 left in the quarter.
Borden got a much needed old fashioned three point play to steal a bit of momentum back. West Washington kept hustling and forced several jump balls and turnovers, but couldn’t get the lead down to give them a crack at getting the win.
West Washington will play North Daviess in the opening round of a tournament at Loogootee on Friday.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
| WW | 8 | 15 | 5 | 26 | 54 |
| BHS | 15 | 14 | 17 | 13 | 59 |
WW scoring: Morrow 5, Russell 12, C. Brown 14, Batt 2, Zink 3, Marrs 8, T. Brown 10
BHS scoring: Keith 2, Missi 12, Rarick 5, Banet 9, Schmidt 7, Jones 20, Scheich 2, Compton 2
Threes: Morrow, C. Brown 4, Marrs, Missi 2, Rarick, Banet 2, Jones 4
Holden Russell glides to the hoop.
Silas Batt gets a bucket in the paint.
Photos by Josh Lewis.