By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

SPENCER, Tenn. — Tuesday’s Raiders game against Van Buren County was a good news bad news situation.

Yes, Moore County played without three key players — Gavin Wise, Jay Sparkman, and Tucker Smith — who were benched for two games following their contributions to the post game brouhaha against Huntland last Friday.

But despite that fact, several of their teammates including Deacon Liles, Tristan Gray, and Avery Rogers came off the bench and put in quality work against the Eagles. Starters Peyton Martin, Colton Morey, and Brantley Hill also stepped up and combined for 36 points in the two team’s first ever match up.

Raiders led after the first

Van Buren County came out swinging by swishing a trey on their second possession, Hill answered with a jumper then Liles crashed the boards for two more to give Moore County an early 4-3 lead. The left side of the “twin towers” — Martin went up for two on the opposite side on the next possession to stretch that lead to three, 6-3. The Eagles answered with put back points, then Gray made one of two from the line for one more.

The Raiders and Van Buren County traded turnovers then Cason Shadrick swished back-to-back treys to give the Eagles back the lead, 11-7. Martin answered with a perimeter shot of his own to pull back within one, then Morey made a jumper to earn back the lead, 12-11.

Morey and Gray scored points in the final minute to hand Moore County a 16-15 first period lead.

Van Buren got hot in the second period and pulled away. They scored 20 points whole holding the Raiders to 12 to manage a seven-point halftime lead. They widened that gap to 13 in the third. At the end of four periods, Moore County fell to Van Buren County 59-45.

Martin led with 22 points

Peyton Martin led for Moore County with 22 points followed by Colton Morey with 10. Brantley Hill and Deacon Liles added four points each. Tristan Gray scored three and Avery Rogers came off the bench and scored two.

The Raiders will return to District 9A action on Friday with a home game against Eagleville. It will be game two for Moore County and the Eagles. Tip off will follow the Raiders game.•

{The Lynchburg Times is a locally owned and locally operated community newspaper in Lynchburg, Tennessee. We’re the only newspaper that publishes editions twice a week every Sunday and Wednesday as well as breaking news as it happens. It’s also one of the few women-owned newspapers in the state. We’re supported by both readers and community partners who believe in independent journalism for the common good. You can support us by clicking here. }