By Sean Zollner
In a tight battle for the Championship in the 92nd annual  Sparta Torrence Tournament, the host Bulldogs came up short to the Nashville Hornets 44-30 to earn second place in the event.  Sparta beat Pinckneyville and Trico on the road to the championship.
“Coach Craig and I are real proud of how hard the kids played all week,” said sophomore coach Jon Norton.  “We only had one sophomore and the rest of the team were freshmen. We beat some very good sophomore basketball teams.  That is a very big accomplishment for these kids and they deserve every bit of it.”
 Against Nashville in the championship, the Bulldogs got out of the gate slow, and saw themselves chasing a 14-4 deficit after the first quarter of play.  Sparta battled back though, outscoring the Hornets 10-3 in the second quarter to cut the gap to 17-14 heading into the half.  The third quarter played out pretty evenly for both teams and Nashville added one point to their lead at 29-25.  Unfortunately, the Hornets were able to pull away in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs went cold from the field.
Tra Edmonson led the attack for the Bulldogs with 10 points in the loss and Seth Ferguson was close behind with seven.  David Williams scored six in the loss and Titus Clay had five.  Isaiah Michl finished things out with just two points coming off of a 24-point performance in the semi-finals.
A game before, Sparta took down the Pinckneyville Panthers 64-59.  They held a 14-13 lead after the first quarter and had stretched it to 29-21 by the half.
The Bulldogs added a point to their lead after the third quarter, heading into the final frame with a 47-38 advantage.  Sparta was outscored 21-17 in the fourth quarter, but were able to hang on for the win 64-59 to advance to the championship game.
Michl led all scorers in the game with 24 points and Ferguson had 12.  Clay came in with 10 points and Edmonson and Bradley Williams both scored seven.  David Williams rounded things out with four points.  
The Bulldogs kicked things off in the tournament with a big win over Trico 60-34.  They jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter and had increased it to 33-14 by the half.  Sparta made it an even 20-point lead after three quarters of play, leading 46-26.
Edmonson set the tone for the Bulldogs with 19 points in the win and Michl added 10.  Both Ferguson and Bradley Williams scored eight points and Clay had six.  David Williams scored five in the win and Logan Robert finished things with four points.