Gunter’s 20 leads Eagles to 66-51 win

Published 12:02 am Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Pleasant Home’s Chase Gunter scored 20 points and had six 3-pointers Tuesday night. | Andrew Garner/Star-News

Chase Gunter’s perimeter game was on full display Tuesday night in Opp.

The Pleasant Home freshman scored 20 points and had six 3-pointers to help lead the Eagles to a 66-51 victory over the Bobcats at OHS.

“That’s what he does,” PHS coach Jerry Davis said about Gunter. “It wasn’t a plan. He’s been shooting the ball well for us.”

In fact, Gunter was 4-for-4 from the perimeter in the Eagles’ 41-34 win over Flomaton on Monday night.

Tuesday night was a different game all together.

Pleasant Home and Opp were neck and neck through the first three periods of play. The Eagles (15-8) came out after the third period and let it wide open, outscoring the Bobcats on their senior night 21-14.

“Pleasant Home played tremendously well tonight,” OHS coach Sterling Driver said. “They moved the ball well, shot well. We played well the first half.”

Opp build an early 4-2 lead after Chris Weeks laid in a jumper.

Dyrian Savage later got a long range jumper to give the Bobcats a 6-3 later on.

In addition to Gunter, Davis said Troy Fantroy played well Tuesday night.

Fantroy got an rebound and made a putback to cut the lead to 7-5 in the first period.

PHS tied the game up on a nice pass from Lance Davis to Fantroy, and led 13-11 after the first period.

Gunter drained three of his six 3-pointers in the second period and Fantroy played big as the Eagles led 27-22 at halftime.

Turnovers by both teams to start the second half led to a Davis 3-pointer to put the Eagles up 30-22 with seven minutes to go in the third period.

The Bobcats, who played a good first half, dictating with their inside game, kept up pretty well with Pleasant Home’s speed at the start of the third period.

“I thought we were going to up the tempo, but they did a good job of handling it,” Davis said about Opp. “It took effect for about two to three periods and kind of got the ball game out of control.”

Fantroy dished a sweet pass to Gunter for another 3-pointer to help give the Eagles a 37-26 lead. On PHS’ next offensive possession, Gunter helped Fantroy out on a good pass to go up 39-26.

After that, the Eagles stalled a bit as Opp went on a 6-0 run after Savage’s free throws, a jumper by Weeks and a putback by OHS senior Jabe Thompson.

PHS led 39-32 and went on to lead 45-37 after the third period.

Turnovers plagued the Bobcats in the fourth period and Gunter launched another trey to give PHS a nice 54-39 lead.

Opp later cut the game to 10 points at 61-51, but the Eagles pulled away late.

Opp’s Jaylon Wade led the Bobcats with 14 points. Chris Weeks chipped in 13 points and Savage had eight points.

Davis paced PHS with 18 points. Fantroy had 14.

In B-team action, Opp won 57-26.

Chris Morrow led OHS with 17 points.

In girls action, Opp’s Nisha Stoudemire scored 33 points to lead the Lady Bobcats to a 63-42 rout over PHS on senior night.

Saquaya Lane chipped in 17 points for OHS.

Pleasant Home’s Brianna Dozier led the Lady Eagles with 12 points. Raven woods and Jade Self had 11 points each.

Opp visits rival Andalusia on Friday. Pleasant Home hosts W.S. Neal.