The Eufaula Ironheads improved to 2-0 after a dominating 70-35 performance over the Morris Golden Eagles Friday night at Morris. Eufaula led 19-4 at the end of the first period after Jentry James led the Ironheads with two three-pointers and a pair of free throws. Eufaula’s defensive effort was unmatched by the Eagles as Maddox Bridges, Keaton Parish, Dusty Eby, Dacen Hunter and James tormented Morris by forcing many turnovers and scoring in transition.
Morris made a push in the second period by scoring 11 points but failed to control the momentum as the Ironheads scored 18 points to take a 37-16 lead into the halftime break. Bridges caught on fire offensively as he added six more points and James perimeter shooting was outstanding as he made two more longthree-point shots.
Eby did a nice job of playing in the paint and was fouled multiple times sending him to the foul line. A huge factor was the play of Parish who is playing with more physicality and aggressiveness and the tempo of Jace Davis on both ends of the court.
Eufaula led 54-27 to start the fourth period and the game became more exciting for Eufaula fans as Ironheads head coach Rob McKinzie rotation of reserve players took its toll on Morris. Ty Sparks, Logan Plant, Dresden Chiles, A.J.Taylor, Levi Chapman and Koltyn Lane each scored points to seal the 70-35 victory.
“I’m very proud of how we played tonight. We played better defensively and took advantage of shooting lanes and moved the ball upcourt better than we did Tuesday against Beggs. It’s early in the season and we still have a lot of work to do,” Eufaula head basketball coach Rob McKinzie said.
Maddox Bridges led the team with 17 points, Jentry James added 16 and Keaton Parish finished with 12 points.
The Ironheads outscored Beggs 57-27 on Tuesday in the season opener at Perry Anderson Fieldhouse. The Ironheads cruised to a 23-6 lead to end the first period. The Beggs Demons could not come up with a defense that could limit the Ironheads efforts. Maddox Bridges started the game scoring from everywhere on the court. He scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half. Keatron Parish finished with 10 points.
The Beggs Lady Golden Demons defeated the Lady Ironheads 56-40 on Tuesday. Eufaula (0-2) battled it out early with Beggs ending the first period with a 15-10 lead. With the score at 15-14, Beggs broke the game open with a decisive 10-point run, finishing the first half with a 26-16 advantage.
Eufaula senior Kate Pippenger scored seven points in the first half and finished with 10 points. Maddie Ballard scored 11 points. Beggs outscored Eufaula 11-6 in the second period and continued a three-point barrage in the third period scoring 19 total points with 15 points coming from the perimeter. Beggs outscored Eufaula in the final period 11-8 as Kamya Stallings scored nearly all of Beggs’ points with seven points to end the game 56-40.
On Friday Morris handed Eufaula their second loss of the season 47-30. Kate Pippenger and Ariel Greenlee both scored eight points. Pippenger went 4-for-4 from the free throw and Greenlee went 2-for-3.
