On Tuesday, February 9th, the Willow Springs Bears played an away game against the Ava Bears. A lot was on the line in this game because both teams had an undefeated record in the conference and wanted to keep it.

Tonight was also an important night because just minutes into the game, Steven Mallow hit his 1000 point of his career. He is the 12th person in Willow Springs history to score 1000 career points. This game was his 89th game which puts him in the 9th spot on Willow Springs career games played list. Also, before the game started, his career free throw percentage was 82.3% which is the best in the school’s history! Mallow also holds the number one and two spot on the yearly free throw percentage list. This was announced during the game and was a huge achievement for Steven.

Then the game moved on, and the Bears had an early lead. Then with the buzzer about to go off, Pete Leonard shot a long three to give Ava the lead. After that, The Bears  were not able to get back the lead and were down at the half. The score after one half of play was Ava- 31, Willow- 22.

In the third quarter, the Bears played hard but were still unable to regain the lead. Mallow hit a buzzer shot of his own at the end of the quarter but Willow was still down by nine. In the fourth quarter, the Bears fought back to put the score within four, but it still was not enough. The Ava Bears controlled the glass to extend the lead and closed the Willow Bears out. The final score was Ava-67, Willow Springs- 56.

“We had great effort, but we really struggled rebounding, stated Coach Mallow.  ”I was disappointed for the guys tonight.”