Mountain Home began 6A/5A-2 district play with a split at Batesville. Matt Sharp has the details.
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The boys' game ended in a strange manner as the Bombers defeated the Pioneers 49-48 in overtime. In the early minutes, it appeared Mountain Home might dominate the game, but Batesville had other plans as they went into the locker room up seven at the break. The Bombers would make a comeback, and the two teams swapped a few leads in the second half. Mountain Home was up three in the final seconds of regulation when Batesville's Tristan Tate inbounded the ball in front of his team's bench, immediately got it back in the corner and drained a three to force the extra period. With about 13 seconds left of overtime, Hunter Beshears gave the Bombers a four-point lead as he hit a layup and drew a foul. After he missed his free throw, the Pioneers' Tanner Vinson went down and hit a three on the other end to cut the margin to one. It appeared Garrett Dietsche was able to take the ensuing inbounds pass for Mountain Home and run out the clock, but the official said he was fouled beforehand and had 1.2 seconds put back on the timer. When Dietsche missed his first free throw, Batesville rebounded and tried to heave it to the other basket as the clock again hit zero, but the officials realized there was still one more free throw to shoot. Batesville got the board after Dietsche's second miss and missed another heave to the other end, but this time, the clock didn't start. The officials caught the mistake and called the game over.
Dietsche led the Bombers with 12 points, and Luke Kruse added ten. For the Pioneers, Taylor Ford scored 15 points, and Vinson chipped in 13.
Mountain Home improves to 5-9 on the season and 1-0 in the 6A/5A-2. Batesville falls to 1-10 and 0-1.
The girls' contest also went down to the wire as the Lady Bombers were edged out by the Lady Pioneers 41-40. Early on, Mountain Home struggled to handle Batesville's zone press as the Lady Pioneers began the game on a 14-2 run. The Lady Bombers made a furious comeback as had a four-point advantage at halftime. Mountain Home again struggled to score in the third quarter as they were held to three points. The Lady Bombers came back and tied the game up at 40 all, but in the final seconds of the game, Hayley Cormican was fouled in the act of shooting. She hit one of two free throws, and that proved to be the difference as Mountain Home's last shot attempt would not go.
The Lady Bombers were led by Hannah Pfiefer with 20 points. Hannah Qualls had 12 points for Batesville, and Taylor Griffin finished with 11.
Mountain Home drops to 7-8 on the year and 0-1 in the district. The Lady Pioneers are 13-3 and 1-0.
Both Bomber teams will play their district home openers on Friday as they meet Vilonia.
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