Elks Suffer Defeat in Grapeland

Elkhart Plays Slocum in Bronze Bracket

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – While Elkhart and Grapeland are long-time rivals, the two teams did not play each other during the Houston County Holiday Tournament.

Instead, the Elks took on the China Spring Cougars on opening day of pool play and got hammered. The Cougars jumped out to a 29-13 lead after the first period of play and pushed the margin out to 53-16 by the break.

Elkhart was led by Jayden Kurtz with five points in the first half while China Spring was led by Antwan Stevens with 21.

The second half didn’t begin any better than the first half ended for Elkhart. Landen Hensley went off for the Cougars as he scored 13 in the quarter to give China Spring a 51-point lead with eight minutes remaining in the game.

The Cougars called off the dogs in the final period of play as they coasted to an 86-38 win over the Elks.

Elkhart was led in scoring by Ky Thomas with 11 and Jayden Kurtz with 10. China Spring was led by Landan Hensley with a game-high 25 and Antwan Stephens with 24 points.

The Elks played their second game of Pool Play on Friday against the Fairfield Eagles. While the Elks lost, they acquitted themselves much better on Friday when compared to Thursday.

The Eagles jumped out to a 22-10 first quarter lead but the Elks kept things interesting up until intermission and only trailed by 16 at the break, 34-18.

Jacob McSwane led the Elks with seven first half points while the Eagles were led by Kolby Adams with 17 points.

The third quarter proved to be the Elks undoing as they were held to four points while the Eagles racked up 11 to open up a 45-22 lead with eight minutes left to play.

Elkhart played hard throughout the final quarter but they just didn’t have the juice to make a 23 point comeback as they fell by a final score of 55-34.

Following their loss to Fairfield, the Elks took on the Slocum Mustangs in the Bronze Bracket of the tournament. They lost by a score of 43-35.

For a complete wrap up of this game along with other games of the tournament, please check back on-line or see the Thursday Jan. 4 edition of The Messenger.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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