Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

The boys varsity basketball team put together two wins on Saturday to capture the Loughmiller Classic. They topped Evansville Day 64-28 in the morning contest and defeated Owen Valley in the championship game 53-37. AJ Foster finished the tournament as the Lions' leading scorer with 20 points in the championship game and was named the Jack Butcher Most Outstanding Player. In the morning contest against the Eagles from Evansville Day, the Lions shook off a slow start and led 13-8 at the first stop. The Lions turned up the defense and transition offense in the 2nd quarter and moved to a 36-18 halftime lead. They dominated the second half with their defense only giving up 6 and 4 points in the last two quarters. They outscored the Eagles 28-10 in the second half enroute to a 64-28 win. Cooper VanHoy led the Lions with a career-high 19 points. Christian Garcia had 13 and AJ Foster had 12. Will Lyon added 9 points. Seth Salmon; Lucas Helderman; and Gabe Walton each had three and Noah Hager chipped in two to round out the Lion scoring. In the championship game, which was moved up to 4:30PM due to impending weather and travel conditions for the visiting Patriots, the Lions led 13-11 after one period, and then stretched the lead to 27-16 at half. Both teams were pretty steady in the 3rd Quarter with the Lions moving the lead to 12 with a 41-29 advantage at the end of three quarters. The Lions won the 4th quarter 12-8 and finished as 53-37 winners. Against the Patriots, Foster led with 20 and was joined in double figures by fellow senior Christian Garcia with 11 and Will Lyon with 10. Seth Salmon added 8 points and Cooper VanHoy had four. "Overall, it was a good day for the Lions. There were many positives. Our defense was solid for six of the eight quarters. We made some nice plays in the 4th quarter with the lead, but we also made some silly plays that we have to pay more attention to in practice and improve in that area moving forward," said head coach Josh Thompson. The Lions will be back in action on Friday night when they host Wood Memorial for Homecoming.