Blake Branch/Press-Herald
The Minden Crimson Tide traveled to Airline Tuesday night, coming out on the wrong end of a great game, falling 58-54 in overtime.
“We played really hard tonight,” Minden head coach Alan Shaw said. “We just struggled to make shots. We missed a lot of easy layups and baskets that could have made the difference in the game.”
Several Minden players fouled out in the late going, allowing Airline to crawl back into a game that Minden led by eight points in the fourth quarter. Another tipping point was free throws.
Airline shot 32 on the night, compared to just 16 for Minden.
“Our guys fought hard,” Shaw said. “They’re beginning to come together as a team.”
Lady Tiders
The Minden Lady Tiders fell hard to the Airline Lady Vikings Tuesday night, 61-32.
The Lady Tiders had their worst showing of the season coming off a long week of games at the Jack Clayton Invitational, possibly suffering from a bit of fatigue.
“This game here was not our best basketball,” Lady Tider head coach Jacob Brown said. “We gave up way too many second chance opportunities, and then they had a girl get hot scoring the basketball. That made for a tough night for us.”
Airline led 13-7 after the first quarter and 31-15 at the half. In the second half the Lady Tiders couldn’t cut into the lead as Airline continued to surge.
“We didn’t take advantage of any opportunities tonight and Airline did,” Brown said. “We’ll get back to doing those things that won us a lot of ball games early in the year.”
Tiaga Pugh led Minden with 13 points, followed by Destiny Powell with nine and Strawberry Batton with six.