The newest Allen gym’s debut was a success with eight schools coming together in Allen for the Pontotoc County Conference Basketball tournament.

Although the Mustangs came out with the runners up trophy and the Lady Mustangs secured the third place spot there was a lot of quality basketball games to entertain the large crowds that attended.

After both Allen teams won their opening round games the girls faced Stratford on Thursday and the Allen men battled Roff on Friday.

The Stratford girls were eventually too much for Allen on this night as they won 60-37 for the Lady Mustangs fi rst loss. “They had a girls in the middle that we had a hard time stopping,” said Coach Slabaugh, “but we did some good things too, our half court pressure is improving and we battled until the end.” Kinsey Nix led Allen with 15, Calissa Childers 8, Kaylyn Rowsey 7, Kinlee Cundiff 4, Emily Sells 3. Emily Sells led the rebounding effort with 4.

On Friday night a packed house watched Allen and Roff boys battle until the buzzer. “It was a fun game for us, we always know we in for fight when we play Roff,” said Coach Greg Mills. “I thought we handled the pace pretty well and it was just a tough physical games and we are happy we came out with the win.” Chad Milne and Rylan Black led Allen with 12 each, Chris Holcomb 9, Airyn Knighten 7, Garrison Johnson 6, Jaren Porter 2

The girls loss to Stratford forced the Lady Mustangs into the Saturday third place game against Roff. Allen got back on the winning track rolling over the Lady Tigers 35-8. Kaylyn Rowsey led the Mustangs with 13 points followed by Nix with 10, Jaycee Watkings 8, Carissa Childers 4.

The boys championship final featured host Allen and Vanessa. After a hard fought battle Vanoss captured the Conference championship trophy with a 51-38 win. “We played hard but at the end we just didn’t have the manpower to finish with the win,” (4 Allen players fouled out in the contest). The Mustangs are without the services of Senior Chris Holcomb who injured his knee during the Allen/ Roff game Friday.Chad Milne 19, Garrison Johnson 6, Nathan Hammonds 5, Jaren Porter 4, Rylan Black 4.

Both Coaches were pleased with the large crowds at the games. “It was a great atmosphere with so many people cheering us on,” said Coach Slabaugh. “We appreciate everyone who came out and the many people that made the tournament runs smoothly.”

“We loved the loud vibe in the gym, kind of had that playoff feel, it was a lot of fun and we also know it took a lot of people to make this so successful and we appreciate the late and long hours so many people put in,” said Coach Mills.