On Jan. 2, 2026, White County Boys Basketball team took on Van Buren’s Eagles coming out with a 70-48 win.
After coming back from an 18-day break, White County started off slow in the first quarter, only having eight points with only three of the Warriors scoring.
Tucker Pinion and Jack Carpenter were both able to find the basket, each putting up three points in this first quarter. Followed by Lukas Smith who had two.
Being one of the only scorers in this first quarter, Jack Carpenter spoke on the game saying, “We just needed to play our normal game. Van Buren isn’t as bad as they look on the record sheet. I just tend to try and do what I can with the ball when I get it. I just take advantage of the opportunities I get.”
This slow start set the Warriors at a 10-point deficit, as the Eagles were able to find the goal for 18 points in the first quarter.
Going into the second quarter down by 10, the Warriors soon found a rhythm, being able to find the goal for 23 points with Tucker Pinion stepping up scoring 10 of the 23 points, followed by Lukas Smith who had eight points.
Scoring the rest of the 23 points were Jack Carpenter with three points and Cole Sims with two points.
The Warriors were also able to step up on the defensive end only allowing the Eagles to score 15 points.
This left White County still down by two points going into half-time against Van Buren with only two quarters left of the game.
The Warriors went into the second half continuing the rhythm they’d found, allowing them to score 20 points putting them into the lead against Van Buren for the first time this game.
Tucker Pinion continued with the rhythm he’d found scoring eight points, followed by Cole Sims who had five points, Lukas Smith with three points, and Mason Steele and Kolt Norris both with two points.
Not only did the Warriors go into the second half heavily focused on offense, but they also locked in on the defensive end only allowing the Eagles five points in this third quarter.
This set the Warriors going into the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead which they hadn’t seen all game.
The Warriors continued into the fourth quarter scoring 19 more points to leave them with 70 points to end off the game.
Cole Sims had 11 of these 19 points, followed by Jack Carpenter with three points, Lukas Smith and Kolt Norris both with two points, and Tucker Pinion with one point.
White County also continued to stay strong on the defensive end with Van Buren only scoring 10 points.
This left the score at a final of 70-48 with the Warriors coming out with the win despite being down the first half of the game.
When asked about the mindset for going into this game, Tucker Pinion said, “The team has been putting in the work during the weeks off, so we’ve just continued with the same mindset as before to give everything we got and win.”
Head coach Eric Mitchell also reflected on the game saying, “We had to play some defense; we started off playing no defense. We haven’t played in a few weeks, and you can tell. So, once we got a few things situated defensively, we came out and outscored them 39-15 in the second half. It was a good win.”
Coach Mitchell followed this up by talking about Van Buren’s physicality after seeing some players having injuries, saying, “That’s kind of the way we play, we like it kind of physical.”
One player who was seen to have gotten hurt was Tucker Pinion who was seen going to the athletic trainer Brent Ryan’s office. When asked about what happened for him to get injured and come off the court, Pinion said, “I got kneed in the leg by a player, but, regardless, Van Buren was a really good team and knew how to play physically.”
The win set the Warriors with a record of 12-1 and knocked Van Buren’s to 5-7.
The Warriors are set to play Warren County, which is currently White County’s only loss in the 25/26 season, on Monday, January 5th. The Warriors look to hopefully set their win streak from 10 to 11.
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