Even though the Hunter Wolverines scored an imposing 59 points on Friday, the Cyprus Pirates still came out on top. Cyprus took their match against Hunter 71-59. The score was all tied up 27-27 at the break, but Cyprus was the better team in the second half.
Cyprus' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Beckham Bayles led the charge by scoring 18 points along with two steals. Stone Tia was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with seven rebounds and four steals.
When it comes to explaining why Hunter lost, one person who can't be blamed is Dominick Phannolath. Despite the final result, he scored 26 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. Another player making a difference was Zaquel Cossa, who scored 12 points.
The victory makes it two in a row for Cyprus and bumps their season record up to 3-13. As for Hunter, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 5-10.
Cyprus will head out on the road to face off against Kearns at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Utah (Kearns is ranked 112th, while Cyprus is ranked 102nd). As for Hunter, they will be playing at home against Granger at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Granger focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 16 last Tuesday.
