Waterloo defeats Vina varsity boys

J.R. Tidwell/FCT Nicky Miller (23) puts up a shot over a Waterloo player in the Red Devils’ loss.

WATERLOO — The Vina Red Devils fell to the Waterloo Cougars 52-43 on day one of the Waterloo Christmas Tournament.
The contest was evenly matched early on, with the teams exchanging the lead several times.
“Our kids played hard,” Vina head coach Dustin Silas said.
The game was tied at 7-7 just over two minutes into the first quarter.
Waterloo hit a shot to go up 9-8 a little later, but Vina responded by draining a 3-pointer to take an 11-9 advantage.
The Cougars again took the lead halfway into the first, and they would keep this lead at the end of the first eight minutes, with a score of 17-14.
Vina was given a technical for six men on the court early on in the second quarter, which would begin the Red Devils’ woes throughout the rest of the match.
A lull in getting shots to drop and costly turnovers by Vina allowed Waterloo to take a 29-19 lead into halftime.
The Red Devils got within 4 or 5 points of the lead several times in the second half, but just could not regain the lead from the Cougars.
Waterloo had a 37-31 lead at the end of three. Vina mounted one last comeback with four minutes remaining, but it was not enough to overcome the tournament hosts.
“We made too many mistakes,” Silas said.
Andrew Hester led the Red Devils in scoring with 11, with nine of those points coming off of 3-point shots.
Adam Pharr and Tyler Hammock both had 8 points, with Hammock draining two shots from behind the arc.
Nicky Miller picked up 5 points for Vina, including one 3.
Vina will host Phillips on Jan. 6 before traveling to Tharptown on Jan. 10.