Maconaquah Schools

The 7/8 Grade Boys Basketball teams closed out a packed December game schedule with a pair of impressive wins on Thursday night. The 7th grade Braves evened their season record at 5-5 with a 46-32 win over conference foe Rochester. The Braves used an aggressive full court press to gain an early lead and held a comfortable margin most of the night. They had a balanced offensive attack led by Jackson Betzner (10 points), Gideon Pier and Wyatt Nichols (9 points each), Martin Chaires (8 points), Layne Miller (7 points), Blaine Morgan (2 points), and Braxton Allen (1 point). The 8th grade Braves needed a bounce back game after suffering their first loss of the season just one day prior. The bounce back started a little slow as the Zebras held a 12-9 lead half way through the 2nd quarter. The boys proved they were up for a challenge though, going on a 42-3 scoring run for the remainder of the game with the final score 51-15. The strong defensive effort was accompanied by shooting over 50% from behind the arc - with Zeiser and Barnett combining for 6 triples. The offense was also able to find holes in the Zebra zone defense with better passing in the second half - finding Merritt open for several easy buckets in the middle. The 8th grade Braves improve to 9-1 on the season. Scoring for the 8th grade: Levi Merritt (14 points), Evan Zeiser (13 points), Jaxon Cole (8 points), Caleb Barnett (6 points), Brayden Stamper (3 points), Tre Rader (3 points), Kaysin Workman (2 points), and Bentley Miller (2 points). The Braves will enjoy their Christmas break before returning to action in January. Come out and catch a game then!