Heritage has to settle for split with Murray County
The Heritage basketball teams split their first games of the season against Murray County on Saturday.
Murray County girls 58, Heritage 48
The Lady Indians made 10 3-pointers, three coming in the final period, and pulled away late to spoil the season-opener for the Navyand-Red.
Heritage trailed 26-25 at halftime, but tied things up at 39 apiece going into the final eight minutes.
However, Murray got longrange shots from three different players in the first 3:30 of the final quarter to open up a seven-point lead.
Heritage cut the lead down to four with a minute to play, but the Lady Indians hit 3 of 4 free throws in the next 20 seconds and got a big steal with 38.5 seconds left on the clock to help seal the victory.
Brooke Matherly drained four threes and had a teamhigh 18 points for Heritage (0-1). Lauren Mock added 13 points, followed by Gracie Murray with nine, Macie Collins with five and Aaliyah Rodgers with three.
Heritage boys 64, Murray County 59
The Generals outscored the Indians 21-9 in the fourth quarter and held on for a five-point comeback win.
Murray took a 34-29 lead at halftime and enjoyed a 50-43 advantage after three quarters. But the Generals scored the first seven points of the final period, all in 1:05, to tie the game at 50 before extended their run to 13-0 to take a six-point lead with 4:25 remaining.
The Indians sliced the deficit down to three points twice in the final minute, but freshman Kaleb Gallman calmly drained four straight free throws in the final 25 seconds to preserve the victory. The rookie had an impressive high school debut by scoring 10 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.
J.C. Armour knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with 15 points. Collin Swearingin scored nine and Ty Loveless had eight. Three points each from Gavin
Broadrick and Kaleb Biddle, along with two apiece from Ryan Heet, Kaden Swope and Bryce Travillion, completed the scoring for Heritage (1-0).
Caleb Hooker had a gamehigh 24 points for Murray County.
The games were played at Ridgeland High School as part of the first day of the school’s annual Thanksgiving Classic.