Appleton City Tournament
Appleton City vs Rich Hill
In the semi-finals of the 39th annual Appleton City Tournament, the Rich Hill Tigers met the home town Appleton City Bulldogs for the right to play for the championship on Saturday night. The Tigers came into the game after defeating Miami on Tuesday night and the Bulldogs defeated the Montrose Blue Jays to advance.
This night would not be kind to the Tigers. In the first quarter the offense had several opportunities to take charge but the basket seemed to have a cover over it and nothing seemed to fall. The saving grace was the defense did a good job holding the home team down and after one quarter the Appleton City Bulldog held a two-point lead. In the second quarter the Tigers offense got more on track and again the defense held pretty well and at the half Rich Hill led the Bulldogs by a slim margin of 3 points. The Rich Hill coach worked on making several adjustments during the break and the second half started off much better than the game had as the offense was a little more patience. During the third frame the Tigers were able to make a small increase in their lead and led 31-25. In the fourth quarter the Tigers offense went cold and the defense allow the Bulldogs back into the game and eventually saw the score tied. In the quarter the Tigers only shot two free throws and in the last minute turned the ball over four times which would lead to their down fall. The Bulldogs made their last four shots from the charity stripe which allowed them to come away with the victory over the Tigers. The final score was Rich Hill 37 Appleton City 41. Coach Moles after the game said that the team had several opportunities to win the game but turnovers at crucial points really hurt the effort. With the loss the Tigers fall to 4-8 for the season but would have the chance to play for 3rd Place on Saturday afternoon. Due to the bracket set up because of a couple of teams being quarantine the Tigers would again play Miami.
Leading scores for the Tigers on this night were Clifton Bridgewater 12, Magal Chol- Case 9, Bryce Yohe 6, Blake Laning 3, Brayden Chandler and Lucas 2 points each and Adrien King with 1. Magal Chol-Case led the Tigers in rebounding with 14 followed by Clifton Bridgewater with 9. Leading Appleton City in scoring was Jaden Vannatta with 16