PORUM — The Gore Pirates ended last week as the champions of the Cross Telephone Invitational Basketball Tournament as they defeated the Weleetka Outlaws 47-45 on Saturday night after beating the host Porum Panthers 5840 in Thursday night’s championship semifinals and opening the tournament with a 6941 rout of the Weleetka junior varsity on Jan. 21.
The Gore Lady Pirates won third place in the tournament by forfeit as the Midway Lady Chargers did not have enough players for Saturday afternoon’s thirdplace game. It was the second forfeit the Lady Pirates received during the weeklong tournament as their openinground game on Dec. 21 was a forfeited win over the host Porum Lad Panthers — who did not have enough players to play due to a influenza outbreak. The only actual contest the Lady Pirates played was their Thursday night championship semifinal game against the Hulbert Lady Riders, who beat them 39-28.
In the boys’ championship game, the Pirates (10-5) led 13-9 after a quarter, which became a 31-19 halftime advantage. However, the Outlaws outscored the Pirates 16-12 in the third quarter and 13-4 in the final period to make the game interesting, but Weleetka’s rally fell short.
For the game, Cain Cooper scored a gamehigh 22 points to lead Gore, followed by Duane Hunt with 16 points, Tate Brooksher with six points and Eli Munson with three points.
In the boys’ championship semifinals, the Pirates led 14-3 after a period, 31-10 at halftime and 43-25 after three quarters.
For the game, Cooper scored a game-high 19 points and Munson added 17 points to lead Gore, followed by Brooksher with eight points, Keeton Rowe with six points, Hunt with five points and Nash Thouvenel with a free throw.
In the boys’ openinground game, the Pirates rallied from a 17-14 first-quarter deficit by outscoring the Outlaws 18-4 in the second quarter and 27-6 in the third period to take a 5927 lead going into the fourth quarter.
For the game, Cooper scored a game-high 23 points to lead Gore, followed by Munson with 19 points, Hunt with 12 points, Thouvenel with nine points, Rowe with four points and Logan Markou with two points.
In the girls’ loss to Hulbert, the Lady Riders jumped out to a 15-6 lead after a quarter, en route to a 19-13 halftime advantage and a 27-22 lead after three periods.
In defeat, Kennedy Williams led the Lady Pirates (6-9) with eight points, followed by Sophie O’Connor with five points, Emily Daily and Rayleigh Moore with four points each, Ricki Huckbay with three points and CoCo Carter with two points.
