The Cloudland boys’ basketball team saw a rally to extend the season come up short.
The ‘Landers dropped a 63-50 decision to Sullivan North in the first round of the District 1-A Tournament on Friday at Daniel Boone.
In the first quarter, it was a defensive affair as neither team was able to get much going. Robert Leeper added four points to the Cloudland cause, but Sullivan North was able to eek out a 12-8 advantage after a quarter of play.
The Raiders started the second quarter on an 8-2 run – as they sandwiched a Blair jumper. Blair kick-started a Cloudland run that saw CHS pull back within five points in the final minute of the first half, but a Raider 3-pointer at the buzzer pushed the lead to 26-18 at the half.
In the third quarter, the ‘Landers were unable to keep with a torrid Sullivan North attack in the first four minutes as SN pushed the lead to 15 points. Blair and company quickly responded with a run of their own to trim the advantage to back to eight points. However, a buzzer-beater shot pushed the Golden Raiders to a 48-34 lead going to the fourth.
After a Leeper basket opened the quarter with a bucket, the Golden Raiders went on a 7-0 run to increase the advantage to 18 points. Cloudland, however, wasn’t going to go quietly as Blair and Leeper along with Hunter Shell trimmed the gap. The ‘Landers, however, were unable to continue the rally in the closing minutes.
Blair had 24 points to pace Cloudland, while Leeper finished with 22 points.
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