The Piketon Redstreaks and the Waverly Tigers toppled their opposition on the first day of the Pike County Classic, setting up a championship showdown between the two schools tonight.

Piketon and Waverly also met for the championship in last year’s tournament. Waverly won that game 50-48.

Piketon 105, Western 26

Piketon advanced to the championship game after dismantling Western 105-26. The Redstreaks’ 79-point margin of victory was fueled by dominating efforts on both offense and defense. They scored over 20 points in each quarter, while keeping Western from even scoring more than 10 points until the fourth quarter.

Western scored just one point in the first quarter, five in the second and two in the third.

Seventeen of Western’s points came from 5-foot-8 sophomore Colton Lightle.

Piketon saw six players score at least 10 points, with Craigen Moore’s 19 points leading the way. Evan Legg also scored 17 points while Jared Vulgamore had 15.

Keenan Brush and Matt Lewis each recorded 13 points, and Jacob Braniff had 10.

Piketon 28 28 28 21 — 105

Western 1 5 2 18 — 26

Piketon — Moore 7 5 19, Legg 8 0 17, Vulgamore 7 0 15, Brush 4 5 13, Lewis 4 5 13, Braniff 4 2 10, Brabson 2 1 5, Williams 2 0 4, Jordan 1 2 4, Bowman 2 0 4, Rinaldi 0 1 1. Totals 41 21 105.

Western — Lightle 5 4 17, Knauff 2 0 5, Grooms 1 0 3, Wessel 0 1 1. Totals 8 5 26.

3-pointers — Piketon 2 (Legg, Vulgamore); Western 5 (Lightle 3, Knauff, Grooms)

Records — Piketon 8-0; Western 0-3 (0-1)

Waverly 49, Eastern 46

Waverly survived a fourth-quarter comeback by Eastern to earn their spot in today’s championship.

The Tigers led for the entire game and entered the fourth quarter up 42-26, but saw their lead evaporate completely when Eastern tied the score at 46 with 1:20 left to play.

Eastern’s Jordan Thornsberry led the comeback effort with nine points in the fourth quarter and a game-high 16 points overall. However, two free throws from Waverly’s Jake Kretzer — who had 12 points — and one from Harrison Martin — who had 13 — put the Tigers back in front by three points with just 11 seconds left.

Aside from Kretzer and Martin, the Tigers were also aided by Devin Kelly who led the team with 15 points.

Eastern 9 11 6 20 — 46

Waverly 14 10 18 7 — 49

Eastern — Thornsberry 5 5 16, Lands 5 1 12, Hawks 4 0 8, Watkins 2 2 6, Pickett 0 2 2, Watkins 1 0 2. Totals 17 10 46.

Waverly — Kelly 5 2 15, Martin 6 1 13, Kretzer 4 4 12, Ward 2 3 7, White 1 0 2. Totals 18 10 49.

3-pointers — Eastern 2 (Thornsberry, Lands); Waverly 3 (Kelly 3)

Records — Eastern 3-2 (2-0 SOC I); Waverly 1-4 (0-2 SOC II)