Bears hold on vs Pioneers in their opener

Gregg Rosenberg
Nov 21
2 min read

Updated: Nov 23

Thursday, November 20th I attended a 6A battle of two potential Top-10 teams in 6A with the Pinnacle Pioneers traveling about an hour to take on the home Basha Bears.

1st quarter started very slowly for both teams but then Mason Magee started things off with a tough fall away and then an and-1 in the lane followed by a steal and layup for a 11-5 lead. Desean Middlebrook seemed to be everywhere with taking charges, getting loose balls and rebounding and cashing in. Basha led 16-8 at the end of the 1st quarter. Magee and Middlebrook had 12 of the 16.

2nd quarter was Kingston Montague time. He scored 10 quick points but Magee and Middlebrook again were tough to handle. The trio had 34 of the 38 points.

38-18 halftime.

3rd quarter starts and the Bears start turning the Pioneers over which led to multiple dunks by Lleyton Leonard to give them a 50-27 lead w 2:45 to play in the 3rd. Then Magee found Montague for three straight 3’s to break the game open at 58-36 heading into the 4th quarter.

The bench 5 went in for the Bears to start the 4th quarter. But the Pioneers went on a 10-run with Rhys Robinson hitting shots along with Cameron Hurt and Kareem Alkhalifa. The Bears starting-5 all went back in and Montague, Magee and Middlebrook came up clutch for the Bears to hold on 70-58. Their starting five were impressive when they were all on the court at the same time. (Magee, Middlebrook, Leonard, Montague and Blake Roberts holding down the middle)