Second quarter propels Jr. Warriors past Hunter

from staff reports

   Shining its brightest in the second quarter, Happy Valley captured a 38-20 victory over Hunter in a middle school basketball game on Tuesday afternoon atop Warrior Hill.
   The Jr. Warriors (1-0 held a slim 10-7 lead at the end of the first stanza, then outscored the Tigers 16-4 in the second to build a commanding lead.
   Happy Valley's Larry Creed tallied seven of his game-high 12 points in the second quarter.
   Nick Papantoniou was tops for Hunter (1-2) with seven points.
   "I thought we gave a pretty good defensive effort today,"said Happy Valley coach Rik Anderson. "Hunter shoots the three pretty well and we held them to just 2 on the day. We got contributions in scoring from 8 of our 10 players, which we will need throughout the year.
   "Our shooting was not the best in the world but with more time in the gym that should improve. Hunter also didn't shoot the ball as well either and had a couple of big shots not go down that might have changed the momentem. I want to believe our defense had a little to do with that."
   Next on the schedule for the Junior Warriors are games vs. Central (Thursday), at Vance (next Monday) and vs. T.A. Dugger (next Tuesday).
   "This will be a great test to see if we are were we need to be at this time of the year," Anderson said.
   Hunter will return to action this Thursday, visiting Cloudland. From there the Tigers visit Unaka (next Monday) and Little Milligan (next Tuesday).
   In junior varsity action from Tuesday, Hunter got 15 points from Papantoniou to register a 34-25 win. The Tigers got off to a fast start, outscoring the Jr. Warriors 15-4.