Bears Go Into Regional as No. 3 Seed After Falling to Fordyce in Semifinal

WOODLAWN - Despite sophomore Jude Roberts scoring 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, it wasn’t enough to get the Woodlawn Bears over the hump as they fell to the Fordyce Redbugs, 69-63, in the semifinals of the 8-2A District Tournament last Wednesday night at the Woodlawn Gym.With the loss, Woodlawn goes into this week’s Class 2A South Region Tournament at Acorn High School as the no. 3 seed from the 8-2A. The Bears, 19-8 overall, are scheduled to meet the Spring Hill Bears, the no. 2 seed from the 7-2A conference, at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22.Should Woodlawn win, it would advance to the South Region semifinals to play the Fordyce-Acom winner at 8:30 p.m. Friday. A victory Thursday would also earn the Bears a berth to the Class 2A State Tournament.Spring Hill is 17-13 overall after finishing in a third-place tie with Acorn in the final 7-2A standings.Last Wednesday’s tournament semifinal game was a rabber match of sorts between Woodlawn and Fordyce. Both schools along with Junction City finished in a three-way tie for the 8-2A regular season championship with identical 10-2 records. Each of team won their home games but lost on the road against the other two.By virtue of the tie-breaker system, Junction City was the no. 1 seed for the district tournament followed by no. 2 Fordyce and no. 3 Woodlawn.Woodlawn and Fordyce both had some success early from behind the arch during last Wednesday’s game as both buried a couple of 3-pointers in the first quarter. They ended the opening period knotted up 1313. Raylon Lawson had both deep shots for the Bears, while Jamartez Stroud and Antuwan Williams accounted for the Redbug 3-pointers.Williams stayed hot in the second quarter for the ‘Bugs, dropping two more 3’s as Fordyce surged in front, 30-25, by halftime. That lead proved to be difficult for the Bears to overcome the rest of he way.Roberts, after scoring just four points in the first ...