Cross County upsets BIC in district quarterfinals

Sixth seeded Cross County knocked off third seeded Buffalo Island Central 66-57 Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the 2A-3 District Basketball Tournament at Marked Tree. The loss brought to an end the reign of BIC Head Coach Bill Taylor, who announced his retirement earlier in the season.

Cory Turner got BIC off to a fast start, scoring all 11 of his points in the opening stanza, including three triples which gave the Mustangs an 18-11 lead after the first break.

Cross County fought back in the second period behind the outside shooting of Anfernee Davis, who drained three treys of his own as the Thunderbirds pulled ahead 30-28 at the half.

Cross County continued to build on its lead in the third quarter behind the strong inside scoring of Joshua Richardson, who finished with a game high 26 points as the Thunderbirds held a 45-38 advantage heading into the fourth period.

Joining Richardson in double figures for the Thunderbirds was Davis with 17 points while Marcus Boykin added 13. Cross County managed just a 12-26 performance from the foul line and hit five three pointers on the night.

Travon Cobb led four BIC players in double figures with 15 points. Canon Walling scored 14, Trey DePriest tallied 13 while Turner finished with 11. Andrew McFarlin pitched in four points. BIC connected on 11-19 foul shots and drilled 10 three pointers on the night.

"We got off to a pretty good start but got into some foul trouble early," said BIC Coach Bill Taylor. "We didn't play very well but our kids played their hearts out. They deserved more than what happened tonight. Cross County is a tough matchup for us. We really don't have an answer for Richardson on the inside. They did a great job of guarding us and we couldn't get into a flow offensively. I'm really sad for my boys. They worked really hard this season. They deserved more than this. We battled hard all year and played our best basketball in the second half of the season. I am disappointed in how it ended."