It may have taken overtime, but the W.S. Neal varsity Eagle basketball team blew a fourth quarter lead and lost to Pensacola Christian Academy Tuesday night 57-54.
Leading 41-28 after three quarters of play, W.S. Neal was outscored 20-7 in the fourth quarter to see the game get tied at 48-all.
In the extra period, W.S. Neal was edged out 9-6 to take the three-point loss.
W.S. Neal led 15-6 after one quarter of play and 27-21 at the half. In the third quarter, W.S. Neal doubled up PCA 14-7 to grab the 41-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
W.S. Neal shot 6-for-14 from the free throw line in the loss while PCA was 17-for-22.
“We played three quarters of basketball the way we have been teaching it to be played,” W.S. Neal head coach Anthony Hayes said. “Credit goes to PCA for fighting the entire game and never giving up. They made 17 big free throws (six coming in the fourth quarter to force overtime and two more in overtime). We were 1-for-6 in the fourth and overtime. Our guys are disappointed by the loss but we must learn to finish and I have to do a better job of teaching these young men what to do when in these situations. We had a shot with Tyshawn (Davis) at the buzzer to force another overtime. Good look, but the ball goes in and out. The eighth grader Jacobey (Hawthorne) has played inspired basketball since we move him up and his teammates have embraced him. He had some big baskets for us tonight.”
Hawthorne finished with 12 points to lead W.S. Neal in the loss and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Davis added nine points and was 1-for-4 from the free throw line while D.J. Hodges added eight points and was 2-for-2 from the line.
Malcolm Hawthorne finished with eight points and was 0-for-2 from the free throw line while Troy Lewis had six points. Treylon Watson chipped in four points and was 0-for-1 from the free point line. Dalton Shell added four points and was also 0-for-1. Trevor Burns added three points in the loss.
The W.S. Neal B-team lost 46-25. No scorers or other game information was known as of press time.
With the losses, the varsity team fell to 5-14 overall while the B-team fell to 2-11.
All three W.S. Neal teams will host Cottage Hill Thursday night at home. The teams will travel to Bayside Academy Friday.