Pete Leonard shattered Ava’s single game scoring record Tuesday night, racking up 46 points in Ava’s win over Blue Eye.
The Bears defeated the Bulldogs, 71-55.
The Bears hosted Marion C. Early from Morrisville last Friday night and let the game slip away in the final minutes, losing 50-48.
Ava had a 10-point lead with 4½ minutes left in the third quarter but Morrisville’s press forced numerous turnovers and saw the lead melt away.
Morrisville tied the game at 44-all with just under 6 minutes left. With less than 2 seconds on the clock and the scored tied at 48, Randy Presley sank a field goal to give the Panthers the win.
Ava trailed Morrisville 15-14 at the end if the first quarter, but took a 25-20 lead at halftime on a 3-point shot by Brock Mitchell. The Bears continued to expand their lead to 10 in the third quarter.
After three quarters of play, the Panthers had trimmed the lead to 40-35.
Pete Leonard led all scorers with 20 points and Mitchell added 13.
Shawn Artz led Morrisville with 16 points and Dakota Moore had 11 for the Panthers.
Others scoring for Ava were Austin Clayton 6, Trae Shelton 6, Austin Gastineau 2 and Zach Leonard 1.
At Blue Eye Tuesday night, Mitchell added 9 points for the Bears, Shelton had 6, Zach Leonard 5, Gastineau 3 and Kevin Philpott 2.
Christian Mitchell led Blue Eye with 19 points.
The Bears will be at home tomorrow night hosting Salem in South Central Association play and will play Reeds Spring here next Tuesday in non-conference action.
At Blue Eye Tuesday, Pete Leonard had 21 points in the first quarter, and the Bears led 25-18 after one.
Blue Eye came back to tie the game at 33-all in the second quarter, but the Bears pulled ahead 41-35 at the half and continued to expand the lead in the second half.
Leonard’s mother, Ann, said, “Pete did have an incredible game, but he knows that he doesn’t score without great passes and he sure was appreciative of that.”
In addition to breaking the single game scoring record at Ava High School, the Ava senior is also on his way to setting a new career scoring mark this year.
