Owls take third, Cleburne loses in consolation finals

JOSHUA — The Joshua Owls that showed up to play Saturday afternoon were the real deal.

After suffering through a terrible semifinal outing against Burleson, the Owls (5-7) took care of the Van Alstyne Panthers in the third-place game of the Joshua Invitational Tournament, 54-35.

The Panthers owned just one lead in the game, 2-0, as Joshua opened up a 13-7 advantage after the first eight minutes, despite a halfcourt shot at the buzzer by Chuck Hardwick.

The Owls built a double-digit lead in the second quarter behind solid play from Jan Schneider and Chris Bracken, but a trio of three-pointers by Van Alstyne’s Joseph Gerick allowed the Panthers to get to within five points late in the frame.

But Joshua managed to move back out to a seven-point lead at the intermission, 28-21.

From there, the Owls simply dominated on both ends of the floor en route to the victory.

Schneider finished with a game-high 24 points for the Owls, while Bracken chipped in with 13 points. Schneider and teammate Korey Hill were named to the all-tournament team. Gerick and Hardwick led the way for Van Alstyne with 13 and 10 points, respectively.



Birdville...................................56

Cleburne..................................45



The Cleburne Yellow Jackets owned the halftime lead, but couldn’t hold off Birdville as the Hawks won the consolation bracket finals of the Joshua Invitational, 56-45.

Steven Werner finished with 17 points for the Hawks, while Lumi Daniel and Caleb Carter added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Chance Rosser paced Cleburne (6-7) with 13 points, while junior post Field Reagan added 10 points. Nick Passalugo and Brent Kiel each had seven points.