Pirates' Battle To The End Comes Up Short Against #3 Coffeyville
February 13, 2019
COFFEYVILLE, Kan. - Fresh off a big win, the Independence Pirates were set for the rematch with the #3 Coffeyville Red Ravens. The battle was on early with a close contest, but the Pirates seemed to get complacent afterwards falling, 82-71.
The Pirates had three players in double figures led by Ricky Edwards with 17 points, Jibril Harris with 13 points and Anquaevious Pollard with 10 points.
"Tonight, we made to many mental mistakes and you can't do that against the third-ranked team in the country," coach Tony Turner said. "We battled to the end, which was a good job but overall we just didn't handle our business well enough to win the game."
"Saturday against Cloud, we have to play better, take care of the ball and make open shots to get back to winning."
In the first half, a three-pointer by Quawn Marshall put Coffeyville on the board before a layup from Jibril Harris, but a layup from Miekkel Murray pushed the lead to three. Threes for Ricky Edwards and Harris gave the Pirates a three-point lead before buckets for Marshall and Keon Queen, but technical shots from Tyreece Berry made it 10-9 Pirates at the 16:35 mark.
A bucket for Marvin Johnson put Coffeyville up by one before a jumper from Berry, but a layup by Marshall regained the lead for the Red Ravens. A bucket for Harris put Independence up by one before a three from Tevin Brewer, but a run of 4-3 made the score 20-17 for Coffeyville at the 11:17 mark.
A bucket from Anthony Jones pushed the lead to five before a layup for Marshall got it up to seven and a layup from Kymani Dunham and basket from Murray pushed it to eleven before a basket from Harris. A layup by Tyler Williams cut the lead to seven before a basket for Dunham on two separate occasions, but a basket for Edwards made the score 32-23 at the 3:35 mark.
A pair of free throws for Casey Benton pushed the lead to eleven before two foul shots for Jones and technical shots for Benton pushed the lead to fifteen, but a free throw by Anquaevious Pollard had the Pirates trailing by fourteen before two more shots from Benton. A jumper by Harris made it a fourteen- point lead for Coffeyville before a free throw for Marshall, but a bucket from Pollard made the score 39-28 at the 1:26 mark. A 4-0 Coffeyville run ended the first half and the Pirates trailed 43-28.
The second half began with a layup by Queen before dunk from Johnson, but a jumper by Pollard got the lead down to seventeen. Another basket for Pollard cut the lead to fifteen before a three-point play by Tonje Durham, but a layup for Benton and Marshall made the score 51-35 with 15:35 remaining.
A 6-5 Coffeyville run had the lead at seventeen before a three by Alex Torres and layup by Harris, but a bucket for Johnson pushed the lead to fourteen before a three by Edwards. A score for AJ Webster and a bucket for Harris kept the lead at eleven before threes from Brewer and Benton who also made two free throws pushing the lead to nineteen but a three from Edwards made the score 69-53 with 7:50 remaining.
A three-point play for Brewer put the lead back to nineteen before a four-point play by Edwards, but a three from Jones and bucket for Brewer pushed the lead out to twenty. A three from Derrick Redmon cut the lead to seventeen before a bucket from Pollard, but free throws from Queen put the score at 79-62 Coffeyville with 3:45 remaining.
A bucket by Webster and a floater for Darrell Purdie kept the lead at seventeen before a free throw from Marshall, but a free throw by Kevin Charles took the lead down to seventeen before a three-point play for Sean Pollack. A three for Redmon cut the lead to eleven and the game ended with the Pirates falling by eleven points.
Independence (14-12, 9-8) is at home Saturday February 16 hosting the Cloud County Thunderbirds with tipoff set for 6 pm.