The Brookhaven Academy Cougars gave it all they had but came upon the short end of the scoreboard Friday night, falling to theBowling Green Buccaneers 45-43 in John R. Gray Gymnasium. BowlingGreen, the number one team in Academy AA basketball, improved to12-0 on the year. Brookhaven, the number three ranked team in AA,dropped to 8-3.

The Lady Cougars won 54-30 over the Lady Bucs.

“We were lucky to get out of here with a win.” said BowlingGreen boys coach Pat King. “We jumped out on them in the firstquarter and led by 15 or 16, but that just shows how goodBrookhaven is. They came back in the second quarter and had a onepoint lead at halftime. It was a battle from there on out.”

“I think our seniors did an outstanding job.” added King. “Theyresponded to the pressure late in the game and found a way to win.It’ll be a battle when we play Brookhaven again. They have a verygood team.”

The Bucs jumped out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter and lookedto be well in control of the game, but Brookhaven responded behindjunior forward Josh Winborne, who scored 10 of his game high 14points in the second quarter, allowing Brookhaven to take a 26-25lead in to the locker rooms at the half.

Brookhaven led by 5 as the fourth quarter began but a trey byBlaine Roberts with 5:22 left in the game was the only points theCougars could manage in the final frame. Senior guard Tyler Thomashit two big threes for the Bucs in the final two minutes to win thegame for Bowling Green.

“I thought we did a good job of coming back in the first halfafter we fell behind by so many points.” said Brookhaven coach DaleWatts. “Josh Winborne did a great job of stepping up tonight. Wehad a chance to put the game away in the fourth quarter but therewere a couple of sequences there that the ball just didn’t bounceour way and they got some buckets to retake the lead.

“We have to work on being able to finish the game.” added Watts.”We have guys that haven’t been in those situations before andthose are areas we need to work on.”

Blaine Roberts scored 10 points in support of Winborne forBrookhaven. Daniel Lofton pulled down 8 rebounds. Corey Dickersonhad six rebounds.

Tyler Thomas scored 10 points to lead Bowling Green. DerekVarnado followed with 9 points and Trent Grabert was able to add 8points.

Brookhaven 54, Bowling Green 30

Senior forward Hannah Watts scored a game-high 11 points, pulleddown 6 rebounds and had 6 steals to lead Brookhaven to the easy24-point win over the Lady Bucs as the Lady Cougars improved to12-2 on the season. Betsy Lynch added 10 points and Kellie Bradyand Anna Katelyn Mangold each scored 9 points in support.

Colbie Robertson scored 8 points to lead Bowling Green. GabbyGivens added 7 points for the Lady Bucs.

In junior high girls action, Summer Calhounscored a game-high 13 points, pulled down 8 rebounds and had 4assists as the Lady Cougars rolled over Bowling Green 49-27. TerahWinborne followed with 11 points as Brookhaven improved to 14-0 onthe season.

Kayla Brumfield led Bowling Green with 12 points.

Individual scoring for the junior high boy’s game wasunavailable at press time, but Bowling Green topped Brookhaven58-56. Brookhaven dropped to 8-2 on the season with the loss.