Headed To The Big House!
Pirates traveled to North East Community College in the Quarterfinal round of the 2024-25 State Playoffs to face off with the Lions of Biggersville Friday, February 21st. Biggersville has been a thorn in the Pirates side for a long time and everyone knew this would be a dog fight! Pirates jumped ahead quick in the first, Senior Jarvis Ross was leading the way. Pirates outscored the Lions 20 to 13, Ross had 11 of those, two 3s, two 2s and one from the charity stripe! Second quarter was a struggle and the Pirate scoring came from everywhere. Buddy had a couple, Jarvis knocked down another 3, Justin Coffey had 5, “T” Reed had a couple and Alandis Smith knocked down a three lighting the crowd up! The Lions had held the Pirates to 15 in the second quarter and added 18 of their own closing the gap at the half to 4, Pirates lead 35 to 31. Lions came out hot to open the third quarter and at the 5:55 mark had the game knotted up at 39. But, this is as close as they got to a lead! Scoring in the third quarter was dead even and the Pirates carried their halftime lead into the fourth quarter, Pirates up 51 to 47! Stanford “Buddy” Spearman led the Pirate scoring in the fourth with 12, half of his 24 for the game, 7 from the charity stripe! As the dust settled the Pirates had scored 21 to the Lions 15 and stretched the lead to 10, Pirates win 72 to 62! Pirate scoring was all over the place in this one: Senior Stanford “Buddy” Spearman had 24, 20 in the second half and hit 8 of 11 from the charity stripe; Senior Jarvis Ross had 19, 11 in the first quarter and hit 4 of 6 from the charity stripe; and Sophomore Justin Coffey had 10 rounding out the double digit scoring. Pirates are headed to the Big House! It has been 10 years since the Pirates have made an appearance in a Semi-final Game in the State Playoffs but it will happen just a few hours from the time I am writing this story and the game will be over by the time anyone reads this article, but that’s ok. Pirates will face East Marion in the Semi-finals Monday, February 24th, in the Coliseum. Pirates go into the game on a 14 game winning streak, haven’t lost since December 21st, and they have no intention of losing today! Pirates have only made it this far in the State Playoffs four times in history; 1957, 1958, 1965 and in 2015. Coach Demarius Bush will be only the third head coach to carry a team this far. In 1957, 1958 and 1965 Coach Paul Pittman carried the Pirates to State and won State Championships in 1957 and 1958. In 2015 Coach Willie Mays carried the Pirates to the Big House but fell short in the final. Hopefully a fun week ahead at the Big House! Go Pirates! See Y’all at the game!
