The Ava Bears picked up a 55-40 SCA win over Salem on the home floor last Friday night, then hosted Reeds Spring in non-conference action Tuesday and claimed a resounding 62-38 victory.
Six-foot-5 senior Pete Leonard led all scorers on Friday night, netting 26 points for the Bears.
Jonathan Hambacker had 17 points for Salem.
The Bears held a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained a comfortable lead although never really putting the Tigers away. The Bears led 30-18 at halftime.
Others scoring for the Bears were Austin Gastineau 8, Zach Leonard 8, Austin Clayton 6, Brock Mitchell 4, and Trae Shelton 3.
Three Bears scored in double figures Tuesday night as the Bears coasted to an easy win over the Wolves of Reeds Spring.
Ava held a 32-19 lead at halftime and outscored the Wolves in every quarter.
Pete Leonard once again led all scorers with 18 points, and was supported by 14 from Shelton and 12 by Gastineau.
Clayton added 9, Kevin Philpott 4, Mitchell 3, and Zach Leonard 2.
The Bears will be idle the rest of this week before entering play in the Conway tournament next week as the top seed.
At some point next week, Pete Leonard should become Ava’s all-time career scoring leader, surpassing David Norman’s mark of 1,411 points.
According to our unofficial tabulation, Leonard needs 25 points to tie and 26 to take the lead.
It should be pointed out that this is based on modern records that are available. Former Ava athletic director and coach Larry Silvey said recently that Don Sallee, of Ava, most likely exceeded the mark held by Norman.
Sallee was a four-year starter for the Bears in the 1940s, and in those days it was not uncommon for a team to play 40-plus games a season, Silvey said.
However, no individual scoring records were kept on players at that time.
