Durant Basketball ends losing streak with win over Freedom
The Durant Cougars basketball team entered Tuesday’s game against the Freedom Patriots with a 4-19 record. The Cougars had home-court advantage and were looking to snap their seven-game losing streak.
The Cougars won the tip off and started the game in the best way possible as Lennox Zelaya made a baseline 3 for the first basket. The Patriots turned it over on their first possession. Zelaya scored again on the following possession, this time on a basket in the paint. The Patriots responded with their first basket of the game with a floater. After a timeout, both teams missed on their following possessions. The Patriots stopped the scoring drought with a nice mid-range pull up. Jamarcus Randall got the crowd hyped as the Cougars starter made an and one after attacking the paint for the layup. Randall converted the and one, putting the Cougars up 8-4 with 4:10 left in the first. The Patriots brought it within two as they attacked the paint with a post move. Niko Sosa got to the free throw line for the Cougars as he was fouled attempting a layup. Sosa went 1-2 from the line. Randall got the steal for the Cougars and was rewarded with a fast break dunk! The Patriots scored a 3, but then Cougars Ocean Thompson responded with one of his own. The Patriots called a timeout with 48 seconds left in the first. Neither team got anything going after the timeout, and the quarter ended with the Cougars up 14-9.
The second quarter started with a Thompson steal, and he found Sosa for the fast break layup. The Patriots then turned it over with a travel. Sosa stayed hot on the next possession with a baseline 3. The next three minutes were scoreless. The Patriots finally scored their first basket of the quarter with a pull up at the free throw line. Ariel Muniz got to the free throw line for the Cougars and went 2-2. The Patriots attacked the paint for a quick bucket, but a Patriots technical was called, which sent Matthew Suarez to the free throw line, where he went 2-2. The Cougars then turned it over. Freedom got a fast break layup on transition as an award. A timeout was called with 1:31 left in the half, with the Cougars up 23-15. Sammy Zelaya got an offensive rebound for the Cougars after the timeout and got a putback layup. The Patriots responded on the next possession with the same thing. At halftime, the Cougars were up 25-17.
The third quarter started with the Cougars getting the ball and they failed to do anything on the first possession. Lucky for them, the Patriots didn’t do anything on their first possession either. The Patriots did score the first basket of the second half with a post spin move for 2 points. Freedom then hit a 3-pointer on the following possession, which made it a one possession lead for the Cougars. Muniz then scored the first basket of the half for the Cougars on a put-back score. Freedom stayed hot as they then got to the free throw line, going 2-2. Sosa got an isolation for the Cougars and scored on the layup. Freedom continued attacking the paint and got a layup of their own. Matthew Suarez responded with a very nice reverse layup for the Cougars. A timeout was called with the Cougars up 33-26 with 3:10 left in the third. Suarez then got to the free throw line for the Cougars after the timeout and went 1-2. Steven Russell then got an offensive rebound and put back for the Cougars. The Cougars then stole it on an inbound pass and Suarez drew a foul and went 2-2 from the free throw line. After the freedom miss, Jamarcus Randall got the rebound, took it up court for the fast break and found a teammate wide-open for the layup. After a Patriots bucket, Zelaya then scored with a nice post-up move for the Cougars. The Patriots went to the free throw line for 3 attempts as they were fouled as time expired. They went 1-3 from the line. The quarter ended with the Cougars up 42-29.
Freedom started the 4th quarter with a huge 3-pointer. The Cougars traveled on their first possession of the quarter. Freedom answered back with another 3, which put them down 7 with 6:16 left in the game. Matthew Suarez made the first basket of the quarter for the Cougars with a nice attack in the paint. After the Patriots missed, the Cougars turned it over for the second time in the quarter. The Patriots then turned it over. It was the third possession in a row with a turnover as the Cougars threw it out of bounds. Both teams exchanged misses of their own, and a timeout was called with 4:04 left in the game. Jamarcus Randall got a nice block for the Cougars, but the Patriots got the offensive rebound for the putback. Matthew Suarez got to the free throw line for the Cougars and went 1-2 from the line. Freedom then got the ball with 2:11 left, down 8. The Cougars stole the ball and started killing the clock. After the Cougars missed, a timeout was called by the Patriots. The score was 45-37, with the Cougars up. After the timeout, the Cougars stole it and were instantly fouled by the Patriots. Another timeout was called with 48.4 left, and the Cougars up 45-37. After the timeout, the Cougars were quickly fouled once again. Matthew Suarez went to the free throw line for the Cougars and went 2-2 from the line. Freedom missed the first shot but got an offensive rebound putback. They quickly fouled, and Sammy Zelaya went to the free throw line for the Cougars, going 1-2 from the line. The Patriots missed again and instantly fouled Matthew Suarez. He went 2-2 from the line. The final score was 50-41 with the Cougars winning and snapping their losing streak.
