On Friday night, it was a tale of two halves as the Pirates took the second quarter and the first half but it was all Red Devils in the 29th edition of the Bluffton McDonalds Holiday Tournament. Arlington came out firing by hitting a pair of 3s to set the theme of the night. Pirate Mitchell Coleman put the Pirates on the board with a 3 to make it 6-3 Red Devils. A basket and a 3 by the Red Devils put them up by 8, 11-3. Coleman would hit a 3 again for the Pirates to make it 11-6. A pair of Red Devil free throws was followed by a Pirate 5 point rally (Coleman 3 and Gavin Huff 2) to make it Red Devils 13, Pirates 11 at the end of 1.
The Pirates would put in the first 5 points of the second quarter to secure their first lead as 16 -13 as Coleman put in a 3 and Reed Warnement made a basket. A 3 by the Red Devils tied the game back up. An 8 point run put the Pirates up 24-16 ad Warnement would put in a basket and Coleman would made 2 more 3’s. The would match Coleman with a pair of 3s to make it a 2 point Pirates lead 24-22. The Pirates would get 2 free throws for Rhenn Armey and a basket from Trevor Brecht to end their scoring for the half while the Red Devils would add 4 free throws to make it Pirates 28, Red Devils 26 at half.
The Red Devils would hit a 3 to take a 29-28 lead to start the second quarter. The Pirates Huff would make a basket to retake the lead for the Pirates. The Red Devils would take the lead for good with a 10 point run (two 3s and two 2s) to make it 39-30 Arlington. Coleman would make a free throw to end the Red Devils run only to have the put in the next 5 points to extend their lead to 44-31. Coleman would make a 3 to close the gap to 10, 44-34 Red Devils. The Red Devils would then outscore the Pirates 9-3 (3 point play by Coleman) to make it 53-37 Red Devils after 3 quarters.
The Pirates would take the fourth quarter 10-9 but it would be the Red Devils advancing to the finals for the 19th time with a 62-47 win over the Pirates.
Mitchell Coleman led the Pirates with 25 points while Gavin Huff put in 9. Reed Warnement had 4 points, Andrew Hoeffel 3, Trevor Brecht and Noah Becher each had 2 points. Coleman hit seven 3s for the Pirates (6 in the first half). Huff and Hoeffel both put in 1 for the Pirates.
Continental falls to 2-7 and will take on Cory Rawson in the Consolation game of the Holiday Tournament. Arlington 7-1 will take on Bluffton in the finals. Bluffton defeated Cory Rawson 67-35. Bluffton, Arlington, and Cory Rawson have played in all previous Holiday Tournaments with Arlington and Bluffton combining for 29 of the Tournament Champions. Bluffton has been the Champion for at least the last 3 years.
–Mike Jones, Sportswriter
