Pirates come up short to Westside in OT

GOSNELL -- A night after knocking off the defending 4A state champion Brookland Bearcats, the Gosnell Pirates were faced with the task of knocking off another big 3-4A opponent, the Westside Warriors.

The Pirates nearly pulled off the back-to-back wins but fell to the Warriors, 61-58, in overtime at the Gosnell Physical Education Center.

Westside's Zac Preston tied the game at 55-55 with 2.8 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and then hit a shot from 25 feet with less than a second left in the extra session -- and the game tied at 58-58 -- to give the Warriors the three-point win.

Gosnell led by two points with under 20 seconds to play but twice missed the front end of one-and-one's at the foul line to keep the Warriors in the game. The Pirates missed all three attempts in the overtime period and were just four of 12 on the night.

"I thought we played hard coming off a tough game Monday night," said Pirate head coach Kirk Glintborg. "We played well and we're getting better."

For the night, T.J. Anderson led the Pirates with 14 points, Rod Jones added 12 and Tramaine Anderson chipped in 10.

Chase Mickelson led all scorers with 17 for the Warriors, Tyler Holt added 16 and Preston scored 15.

The Pirates (9-6 overall, 3-4 3-4A) head to Cave City Friday night.

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com