By Staff
If the W.S. Neal Blue Eagles need a place to look for the two points they needed to win, the free throw line would be a good starting point.
The Blue Eagles missed 28 free throws in Monday's 75-74 road loss to the McKenzie Tigers.
Not only did the Blue Eagles continue their disturbing trend of struggles at the free throw line, but W.S. Neal (5-16) lost for the fourth time to a team it beat the first time around.
McKenzie (3-18) threatened to run away from the Blue Eagles in the first half. The Tigers led 16-10 through one quarter and widened the advantage to 32-19 by halftime.
W.S. Neal roared back in the second half with their best offensive half of the season, 55 points.
The Blue Eagles cut McKenzie's lead to 52-43 by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sherman Sanders delivered 13 points and Jonathan Alexander added seven more to help put W.S. Neal up 74-73.
McKenzie, which was 21-for-39 from the free throw line, got two free throws by Rhett Lowe with 12 seconds left to retake the lead.
The Blue Eagles got a season high 21 points from Sanders. Sanders was one of the few W.S. Neal players not to struggle from the free throw line where he was seven-for-nine. McKenzie's Brandon Kent led all scorers with 26 points.
No junior varsity game was played.
W.S. Neal, which hosted Straughn Tuesday, heads to Frisco City Friday.
At McKenzie
W.S. Neal 10 9 24 31 - 74
McKenzie 16 16 20 25 - 75
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanders 7-0-7-21; Jo. Alexander 6-0-1-13; Jak. Bailey 4-0-3-11; McMillian 4-0-2-10; Thomas 2-1-0-7; Madison 3-0-1-7; Ron. Travis 0-1-0-3; Roh. Travis 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 26-2-16-74)
MCKENZIE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Kent 9-2-2-26; Love 5-0-9-19; Rudolph 3-0-5-11; Adams 3-0-4-10; Henderson 3-0-1-7; Bush 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 24-2-21-17-75)