Thursday/Friday Basketball Recap

A recap of games covered by MOARK Sports.

Marshfield 57 Branson Girls 55
On Thursday in a game Branson led for most of the second half, a few late turnovers and missed free throws allowed the Class 5 fifth ranked Marshfield Lady Blue Jays escape with a 57-55 win as Lady Jay Tilly Greenfield hit two free throws with under a second to go to secure the win at Marshfield. Branson's Taylor Foster, who led all scorers with 19 points, was called for a foul on a blocked shot that led to the winning free throws, though the Pirates argued that the foul and shot came after the clock expired. The officials conferred and determined the play occurred just before the buzzer. Branson falls to 7-5 with the loss. 

Forsyth 80 Buffalo 47
Playing their third game in four nights, the Panthers started off sluggishly against the one win Bison, who kept attacking the basket and had a lead for the opening minutes of the game. The Panthers used a couple of surges and the hot shooting of Chris Halbrook to pull away to an 11 point half time lead and a turbo clock win in the end. Halbrook led all scorers with 31 points as the Panthers notched win number 10 on the season. 

Sparta Lady Trojan Classic
The six team pull play tournament began with wins for top seeds Strafford and Sparta on Wednesday with the Lakes Region teams beginning on Thursday, which saw Forsyth defeat Hollister 68-42 and Strafford knock off Reeds Spring 56-21. Friday action had Sparta defeating Forsyth 35-20 while Reeds Spring defeated Hartville 48-21. Today's final games will have Hartville playing Hollister at 3:00, Forsyth and Reeds Spring matching-up at 4:30, with Strafford and Sparta playing for the championship at 6:00.