The Paw Paw Pirates's three-game losing streak came to an end on Thursday. They pulled ahead with a 76-75 photo finish over Turkeyfoot Valley Area. The win was just what Paw Paw needed coming off of a 71-41 loss in their prior matchup.
Donavan Tanouye was his usual excellent self, scoring 27 points along with nine rebounds and eight steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which he has scored at least 25% of Paw Paw's points. Another player making a difference was Greyson Corbett, who scored 20 points along with five rebounds.
Despite the defeat, Turkeyfoot Valley Area had strong showings from Bryce Nicholson, who scored 31 points along with six rebounds and three steals, and Zack Ryan, who scored 22 points along with six assists and six rebounds. The matchup was Nicholson's seventh in a row with at least ten points. Daniel Younkin was another key contributor, scoring 17 points along with six rebounds.
Even though they lost, Turkeyfoot Valley Area were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Paw Paw only pulled down four offensive rebounds.
Paw Paw's win bumped their record up to 6-3. As for Turkeyfoot Valley Area, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-3.
Paw Paw will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against Salisbury Elk Lick on December 29th. Salisbury Elk Lick will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in their respective state's rankings (they are ranked 532nd in Pennsylvania, while Paw Paw is ranked 63rd in West Virginia). Turkeyfoot Valley Area won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Hancock at 6:00 p.m. on December 29th. Hopefully Hancock focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 19 last Thursday.
