A raucous crowd came to see two well-matched ninth-grade teams play when South Junior High went into West Junior High’s gym Wednesday. Students from South crowded the bleachers to cheer on the Cougars, who had just come off a strong victory at Central, but it was West’s cheering section that had the final say as they chanted “scoreboard” after a 56-48 Warhawk victory.

The stars for both teams shined as Jayce Eubanks and Chebon Dawes once again both scored in double figures for South. West’s Marcus Spates led the Warhawks with 13 points and Chase Hoag added ten of his own, along with a team-high five rebounds. Perhaps more impressive, Hoag did most of his damage in the second half while playing with three fouls.

“We just played hard like always,” Spates said of his team’s performance. “Coach told us to keep our confidence up and we did.”

The Warhawks displayed their confidence on their first score as Hoag grabbed a defensive rebound and Spates converted the bucket at the other end.

Eubanks started the action for South with a rebound and dish to Rashaad Marshall for the Cougars’ first basket.

The points continued to pour in back and forth as Hoag snagged an offensive board and hit his first attempt from the floor to begin a seven-point run between him and Spates. A Hoag block was converted to a Spates’ three ball, and after another missed shot by South, Hoag tipped in an errant shot for two more points.

Marshall sank a three for South to end the run and West led 12-9 after the first period.

Unfortunately for West, Hoag committed three fouls in the opening period to go with four points, four rebounds and two blocks and did not see any more action until the second half.

South took advantage of his absence and went to their big guys in the paint during the second quarter and fought back to take a three-point lead of their own at the halfway mark. Eubanks and Dawes combined for 11 points and six rebounds in the quarter as they executed a high-low game to near-perfection.

Warhawk Marcus Spates, 23, lays the ball in the hoop as Cougars Jake Green, left, and Chebon Dawes defend the basket Wednesday at West Junior High.

In the third quarter, and really for the rest of the game, the ball fell West’s way. The Warhawks outscored the Cougars 18-9 in the third period and continued the trend in the fourth and final quarter on their way to an eight-point victory. South couldn’t quite muster a comeback despite five fourth-quarter points from Clint Pinnick and continued strong play from Dawes, Eubanks and Marshall.

“I really thought we played better tonight than at Central,” South coach Scott Petry said. “But sometimes the ball bounces in and sometimes it just doesn’t.”

It certainly bounced right for West guard Dale Shillington who scored six points off the bench, all in the fourth quarter. Bench play was certainly a factor throughout the game as West saw 11 of 12 players score compared to just seven of 13 players listed on the South roster.

In a battle between basketball teams and cheering sections, West came out on top in both regards thanks to a well-balanced attack and confident play.