The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Turner Tornado boys basketball team was back at home playing their District 9C and home opener Friday night as they welcomed the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks to town. When the dust settled, it was Chester/J-I that came away with a hard-fought 54-51 win over Turner. Saturday night, the boys headed west to Big Sandy to take on the Pioneers in another District 9C tilt. Turner came up big on the road and secured a 74-68 win over the Pioneers. The Tornadoes record now sits at 3-3 overall, 1-1 in District 9C play.

The team got off to a slow start, managing just a single free throw each through the first two minutes of action. Junior Caleb Zellmer scored the first bucket for the Tornadoes and moments later, senior Trent Billmayer put back the offensive rebound to bring Tuner within one, 8-7. Senior Ryan Doyle gave the Tornadoes their first lead, 9-8, with 2:03 remaining in the first. Chester/J-I converted a pair of free throws to give the Hawks a 10-9 advantage heading into the second period of action.

Junior Carson Maloney scored inside to give the Tornadoes back the lead, 11-10, to start the second quarter. Maloney then found Doyle on a back door cut for an easy bucket and a 13-12 lead at the five-minute mark of the first half. Sophomore Tate Beck finished the fast break with a nice feed to Billmayer to extend the Turner lead to 15-12 and a timeout from CJI. Maloney scored again off a pass from Billmayer for a 17-12 advantage. Chester/J-I stormed back to retake the lead 19-18 in the final minute of the first half.

The Hawks held a 21-18 lead to start the third quarter. Billmayer hit Maloney perfectly on the roll for an easy bucket to bring Turner within a basket, 22-20. The Hawks rattled off eleven straight points to push the lead to 33-20. Billmayer ended the run with a steal and bucket underneath to make the score 35-24 in favor of the Hawks. Maloney attacked the basket with authority for a score to cut the lead back to single digits, 35-26. A steal and layup from Doyle made the score 37-31 and a bucket underneath from Billmayer had the Tornadoes within six, 39-33. A three pointer late gave the Hawks a 42-33 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Doyle scored going down the left side of the key to keep Turner close, 42-35. Zellmer knocked down a free throw to end a 6-0 Hawks run, making the score 48-36 in favor of Chester/J-I. Billmayer connected from distance to make it a ten point game, 49-39 with 4:29 left on the clock. Billmayer connected again on Turner's very next possession, leading to a Hawk timeout with 3:47 on the clock and the score 49-42 CJI. Doyle knocked down a triple from the left elbow to bring Turner within five, 50-45, as the intensity really started to pick up on both ends of the court. Doyle answered a pair of CJI free throws with a strong take to the bucket for another score to keep the deficit at five, 52-47.

With time running down, the Tornadoes picked up the pressure on the defensive end, forcing a turnover. Turner was unable to convert on the other end and forced CJI to call a timeout in the backcourt to avoid another turnover. CJI held a 52-42 lead with 0:52.7 left on the game clock. Turner regained possession with :39.7 left, Doyle drew a foul beyond the arc and stepped to the line for three free throws, connecting on one. Turner couldn't get a shot to fall late except for a three ball at the buzzer from sophomore Tate Beck. When the final horn sounded, Turner had fallen to the Hawks by a score of 54-51. Doyle led the offensive attack with 17 points, while Billmayer scored 14 and Zellmer nine in the win. Maloney contributed eight points to the Tornado effort.

Saturday in Big Sandy, the Tornadoes showed up in full force and got solid contributions across the board. Turner held a slim 22-21 lead at the end of the first quarter, getting seven points from Doyle and five each from Zellmer and Maloney. Billmayer tallied ten second quarter points to help Turner extend their lead to four, 40-36 heading into the third quarter.

Maloney added nine more to his game total, providing the spark for Turner to take a seven point, 57-50 lead into the final quarter of action. Junior Tate Beck scored five down the stretch, including one from distance, and Maloney added six in helping the Tornadoes secure the 74-68 win over the Pioneers. Maloney led the way with 19 points in the contest, Beck added 17 of his own. Billmayer tallied 14 in the win and Doyle contributed 13 to the Turner total.