By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle Junior High School's eighth grade boy's basketball team (13-1) claimed championship honors in their own Christmas tournament by defeating Florence Middle, 64-28, Saturday afternoon. Hartselle's seventh grade team finished in third place.
Hartselle was never threatened in the championship game. They were ahead 17-4 after one period, 37-14 at halftime and 63-28 after three periods.
Marquez Jones led the winners in scoring with 17 points. He also had five rebounds and three assists. Luke Bole had 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal. Rodney Stansberry scored nine points and had eight rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal.
D. Thompson paced the losers with seven points. J. Hall added six points.
"It was their best game all year," said coach John Sivley. "We had only 10 turnovers.
"I'm proud of the way they played. They displayed good sportsmanship and played like a first class team."
Hartselle defeated Madison Academy, 53-35, on Friday night to get into the finals.
Stansberry paced the win with 21 points. He also had 12 rebounds, one blocked shot, two assists and three steals. Luke added 16 points and had two rebounds, one blocked shot, one assist and two steals. Marquez Jones scored eight points and had seven rebounds, one blocked shot, four assists and four steals.
"Stansberry had his best game. He played well on both offense and defense," said coach Sivley.
Florence Middle won championship honors in the seventh grade division by defeating Madison Academy. Cotaco finished in third place.
Hartselle 36,
Liberty 34
Hartselle's eighth grade boys improved their record to 11-1 by defeating Liberty, 36-34, on Dec. 16.
Bole led the way for Hartselle by scoring 18 points. He also had two rebounds, three blocked shots and one steal. Marquez Jones had nine points, four rebounds and five assists. Bracket and Abrams each had 13 points for Liberty.
Hartselle 51,
Florence Middle 46
Hartselle eighth grade boys defeated Florence Middle, 51-46, on Dec. 13 to improve their record to 10-1.
Kenny Turney paced the winners with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and six steals.
Bole had eight points, two rebounds, two steals and three assists. Stansberry had eight points, two rebounds, three assists and four steals. Manquez Jones had eight points, one rebound, two assists and one steal. Joshua Slaten had seven points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
S. Southward led Florence with 18 points. J. Barnett had 11 points.