Dubale Greathouse at the free throw line.

The Blue Eagles riding a 10 game winning streak dating back to January 29, were looking to get revenge for a 30 point loss to the Mountain Lions earlier in the season but it wasn’t to be as they fell 59-47 in a hard fought game on Thursday afternoon at the Charleston Coliseum.

Tucker County scored first on a layup by senior guard Trevan Bonner who was fouled on the play and hit the free throw to give the Lions a 3-0 lead with one minute off the clock.

Nine seconds later Magnolia’s Darin Shimp hit a layup. Tucker scored again to go up 5-2, but Eli Midcap hit a shot to make it 5-4. Tucker Co. scored again before the Blue Eagles Dubale Greathouse made good on a pair of free throws to make it 7-6. The Lions scored on a layup and a free throw to take a four point lead 10-6 with 4:46 left in the first quarter. Following a media time out Magnolia scored the next five points on a Layup and a 3-point basket by Greathouse to get their first lead of the day 11-10 with 2:11 on the clock. The teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter and were tied 15-15 after one period.

The Blue Eagles started quick in the second period and took a 23-19 lead with 5:07 left on 3’s from Kingston Christen and Greathouse and another layup by Shimp forcing Tucker to take a time out. Following the timeout the Lions hit the next 15 points to head to the locker room up 34-23 at the half.

“We gave it everything we could give,” said Magnolia coach Dave Tallman. “We had a 21-17 lead and four 50-50 calls didn’t go our way. They were game-changers. Hats off to Tucker, They’re a great basketball team. We came in here to win it. There has not been an upset in this state tournament. We knew the goal was extremely high, but I’m proud of these young men.”

Magnolia made a couple runs in the third quarter to pull to within eight at the 5:24 mark but the Mountain Lions finished the quarter on a 10-6 run to go up 48-34 with eight minutes to play.

The Blue Eagles cut the lead to seven 54-47 with four minutes to play in the final period but couldn’t get any closer and never scored again while Tucker added five more points for the 12 point win and a trip to the semifinals on Friday night against East Hardy who defeated Clay Battelle.

Magnolia was led by Christen with a game high 19 points including four 3’s. Greathouse added 16 markers including two 3’s. Noah Hood and Shimp each hit for five points and Midcap added a bucket. Hood grabbed six rebounds while Midcap had five and Greathouse three. Greathouse had four steals, while Hunter Oates and Christen each had three.

Tucker was led by Bonner with 15 points and Mikey Mitchell with 11. The Lions held a 42-19 advantage in rebounds and hit 13-22 from the free throw line to Magnolia’s 6-11 from the line.

The Mountain Lions scored 32 points in the paint to Magnolia’s 18, and received 11 second chance points to the Blue Eagles five.

“Their guards are so good, so you have to give up something,” said Tallman.

“They killed us on the offensive boards,” added Coach Tallman. “That’s been our forte, we out-rebound the other team, and they annihilated us on the boards.”