Fort Chiswell falls to Auburn in ‘foul fest’

After defeating the Giles Spartans 71-29 in the First Round of the MED Tournaments, the Fort Chiswell Varsity Boys’ Basketball Team had a showdown with the Auburn Eagles on Friday. Both teams had split during the regular season and this game certainly didn’t disappoint as far as competitiveness and determination. The biggest disappointment for Pioneer fans was the foul count as Auburn’s Drew Royal shot 24 foul shots and missed 7 as he tallied a game high 31 points. Royal’s teammate Ben Marrs shot 20 foul shots and missed only 3 for a total of 26 points in the 81-70 OT victory over the Pioneers.

Despite the lopsided foul count, the Pioneers were very determined as they led most of the first half by 10 or more points as FC Freshman, Owen Jackson, started off hot scoring 11 of his 26 points in the first quarter. Pioneer senior Brayden Billings, also started off with a bang on the glass and in the post and ended the contest 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kenton Sutphin and Eli Armbrister also showed out for the Fort with 11 a piece as it looked like FC had done enough to pull off the victory despite the poor shooting and the strange foul fest that involved the Pioneers shooting 26 total foul shots to Auburn’s 49 with neither team pressing at all during the contest with the exception of the Eagles stretching their defense out with around two minutes to go to try to extend the contest as long as they could as they were down seven.

The Pioneers would go to the line repeatedly and come up empty and gave Royal a chance to tie the game up on a questable foul call on a three point attempt that was blocked. He then followed the sequence up by sinking all three shots giving the Pioneers two more attempts to win the game but Owen Jackson’s drive was partially deflected out of bounds underneath FC’s basket with .8 seconds left. The Pioneers would try to throw the pass in as bodies were flying as time expired, with no foul called this time. The extra period proved to be more of the same for the Pioneers with poor shooting down the stretch and more fouls tallied against them as the contest ended at 81-70.

However, despite the heartbreaking loss, the Pioneers rebounded in the third-place game as they defeated the Grayson Co. Blue Devils 65-53. Owen Jackson led all scorers with 21 followed by Brayden Billings’ 19 points and Kenton Sutphin’s 15. With the win the Fort advances to the Region C Playoffs where they will face off against the Narrows Green Wave on Tuesday at Narrows.

FC’s Varsity Girls also lost a heartbreaker in the MED Championship to GW after leading by 9 points at the half and more throughout the first half. Blair Jackson led all scorers with 15 in the loss. The girls will be at home on Tuesday in the first round of region play against East Mont.