The Warren County Middle School Pioneer got a big win in the season opener against Tullahoma West, 59-25.
The Pioneers had a lot of intensity from the start of the game to the final buzzer. Warren County defensively controlled the game forcing turnovers and converting on the other end.
Coach Isaiah Grayson was very impressed with his team tonight. “We played to our size tonight and were the more physical team,” Grayson said. “We had a lot of energy to start the game off and we kept it for the most part.”
In the first minute of the game, Cooper Murphy was able to get ahead of the Tullahoma West defense to throw down a one handed dunk. It marks his first dunk of the season, with many more to come.
Brent Carden photo
After Murphy's dunk, the momentum stayed on the Pioneers side controlling the game early in the quarter leading by 11, 20-9.
In the second quarter, Tullahoma west was able to slow down the Pioneers defensively for about four minutes to put some points on the scoreboard. Grayson called a timeout to settle his team.
After the timeout, Warren County came out hot forcing more turnovers that converted to points on the other end. The Pioneers went into halftime leading 34-17.
Brody Chisam proved he was not just a big boy on the football team, he also can be big on the basketball court as he finished with 18 points on the night. Grayson said “Brody was big on the offensive boards and giving us extra possessions that we capitalized on.”
Murphy finished the night with 17 points, 13 of those points coming in the first quarter. While Weston Murphy added 9 points for the Pioneers.
Warren County finished the third quarter up by 32 heading into the final quarter of the night. Grayson was able to sub his starters out to get some younger players an opportunity to gain varsity experience. Caleb Rhoady hit a three late in the game, while Colton Todd added two points to secure the Pioneers a 59-25 victory.
“We won the two battles I harp on every game, those two battles being rebounding and the turnover battle.” Grayson said. “I am very impressed we only had 5 turnovers as taking care of the ball is big time for us.
The Pioneers will look to end the week at 2-0 on Thursday as they face Tullahoma East.
