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Bears Fall to Mtn. Grove In SCA Play; End Season In Districts Tuesday

Mtn. Grove held the Ava Bears to just 10 points in the first half last Friday night in the Mtn. Grove Coliseum, and the Panthers defeated Ava 74-41 in SCA action.

This game closed out the regular season for both teams as district play was set to begin on Monday.

The Bears faced the Mtn. View-Liberty Eagles from the SCA in the first round of the Class 3 District 10 tournament at Cabool on Tuesday night and suffered a season-ending loss, 75-44. It was the second meeting within a week for the two teams.

Senior Colton Skyles led the Bears with 21 points on Tuesday night as nine different players scored for the Bears.

Skyles also led the Bears and all scorers on Friday night at Mtn. Grove with 17 points. He was the only Bear with double-figure scoring.

Mtn. Grove had four players in double figures, led by Carter Otwell with 16, Gavin Veach 12, Cade Coffman 11 and Brock Coffman 10.

Others scoring for Ava were Thomas Emrich 8, Joe Balassone 5, Drake King 4, Caleb Johnson 2, Joey Swofford 2, Weston Stillings 2 and Wyatt Gastineau 1.

The Bears finished the season without 6-foot-6 senior center Anthony Rosas who suffered a leg injury in a car wreck on Feb. 4.

The Bears traveled to Mtn. View-Liberty High School on Tuesday night, Feb. 14 where they took it on the chin, 78-39.

Mtn. View senior Josh Pruett led all scorers with 23 points.

Thomas Emerich led the Bears with 10 points.

Others scoring for Ava were Griffin Taylor 8, Caleb Johnson 7, Zimran Lawrence 5, Weston Stillings 4, Wyatt Gastineau 2, Joe Balassone 2, and Colton Skyles 1.

Liberty led the Bears 20-2 after one quarter of play and held a 41-9 advantage at the half.

In district play on Tuesday night, Liberty jumped out to a 21-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, then continued to pour it on, leading 42-23 at halftime.

Scoring for the Bears, in their final game of the season were Skyles 21, Griffin Taylor 7, Caleb Johnson 5, Zimran Lawrence 3, Thomas Emerich 2, Devin Elliott 2, Joe Balassone 2, Weston Stillings 1 and Drake King 1.

Mtn. Grove will play Conway and Liberty will play Licking in the semifinals tonight (Thursday). The  championship will be decided Saturday night at 6:30.