Roberts Scores 37 as Bears Beat Poyen at District Tourney

RISON - Jude Roberts scored 37 points, including the last five of the game, as the Woodlawn Bears survived a rally by the Poyen Indians come away with a 62-58 in the third-place game at the 8-2A District Tournament last Friday at Junction City.By virtue of its win, Woodlawn (23-9) advances to this week’s Class 2A Region 4 Tournament at Hampton as the conference’s no. 3 seed. The Bears will face the Dierks Outlaws (21-11), the no. 2 seed from the 7-2A, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Hampton. A win puts Woodlawn in the regional quarterfinals against the Hampton-Spring Hill winner, and assure it of a berth in the Class 2A State Tournament next week at Poyen.The Bears and Outlaws met earlier this season when Woodlawm came away with 68-42 victory in the Bismarck tournament on Nov. 25.Woodlawn Coach Logan Adair said both teams will be fielding different rosters in this second match-up. He said Woodlawn did not have Ethan Saeler nor Aiden Powell available in previous game game due to football while Evan Donnell, one of the team’s best shooters, was out with an injury.Meanwhile, Adair said Dierks has a freshman guard who was moved up to the varsity after the junior high season wrapped up.  He averaged 28 points per game during the 7-2A District Tournament last week.Woodlawn entered Friday’s third-place game against Poyen 0-2 against the Indians. They swept the Bears, winning 78-68 at home and 69-61 at Woodlawn.This time, Adair said they put more emphasis on guarding the perimeter rather than collapsing down on Poyen’s 6-7, 210-pound post Colt Barrett. That strategy seemed to work in the first half as Woodlawn built a 33-23 lead by halftime.However, he said his defense began to sag more inside in the second half to guard against Barrett. As a result, the big senior passed it back outside to give the Indians some open looks beyond the arch. After making just one 3-pointer over the first two quarters, the Indians hit...