Eagles Fall To LaPoyner In Mewbourn Tourney Opener

Returning to action after a nine-day layoff, the Canton Eagles gave LaPoynor a tough battle in a 56-46 loss Monday morning in the first round of the Bryan Mewbourn Tournament in Martins Mill.

The Eagles, led by 14 points from Eric Walters, were down by double digits in the fourth quarter against a LaPoynor team that had won five straight before Christmas.

However, Bret Botard’s crew made things a little less comfortable for the Flyers in the last two minutes. A 3-point bucket by David Aaron chipped LaPoynor’s lead down to seven with 1:03 left in the game.

Tyler Yarbrough answered a LaPoynor free throw with a basket with 43.3 seconds remaining to get Canton to six, 52-46, but the Flyers were able to close it out from there.

"The guys played hard and I am very proud of them for that," said Botard. "We didn’t always play smart, though, and we did not make some shots we needed. LaPoynor’s kids did do that.

"I have to credit the effort of our kids, though. We always seem to be in every game, but today we just came up short," he added.

Yarbrough finished with 10 points, followed by Aaron with seven, Stephen Malouf with six, Ethan Fields with five and Roy Denbow and Justin Richard with two apiece.

Senior Justin Hilton put on a show for LaPoynor with 33 points.

Canton was set to play Avery in the consolation round of the tournament Monday afternoon. That result was not available as of press time Monday.

The Bryan Mewbourn Tournament continued Tuesday and Wednesday. Read next week’s Canton Herald for a full wrap-up on the Eagles’ games in the tourney.