Sparta
The 4th Annual Frank’s Christmas Shootout got under way on Friday, with eight boys’ and eight girls’ basketball teams meeting in Sparta for the three-day event.
The White County Warriors and Whitwell Tigers faced off for the final game of the boys’ bracket on Friday afternoon, and kept the scoreboard lighting up like it was its own Christmas display as the home squad won 96-70.
Whitwell won the tip, but Mason Steele took to the boards to snag the Tigers' first missed bucket and drove the full length of the court to find the basket and put the Warriors on the scoreboard first. Whitwell wasn’t going to let White County run away with the game too early and put up a fight, even taking a 5-4 lead early on. While the Warriors quickly took the lead back, the Tigers kept it close, and White County had just an eight-point lead at the end of one.
The second quarter was all White County as they added 29 more points before the halftime buzzer. Whitwell had plenty of offense itself, matching the total number of points they scored the last time they faced the Warriors by halftime on Friday. However, the Warriors took a 57-36 lead into halftime.
The buckets kept dropping in the third quarter as White County added 33 more points while Whitwell put 18 on the scoreboard to make it 90-54 at the start of the fourth quarter. Warrior head coach Eric Mitchell went to the bench as the clock continued running due to the mercy rule. White County’s reserve players couldn't add the 10 points needed to make it a triple-digit final score. However, senior Noah Skeith added five points – including a deep 3-pointer – while sophomore Griffin Adams sank a foul shot for the Warriors’ final point of the night.
Tucker Pinion couldn’t be stopped as he dropped 22 points. Cole Sims and Jack Carpenter each sank 19 while Mason Steele also hit double-digits with 18 points. Skeith, Lukas Smith, Noah Barringer, and Adams combined for the rest of the Warriors’ impressive point total.
With the win, White County advanced to the semifinal round. Their game is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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