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ORANGEFIELD – The Orangefield Bobcats dug themselves a hole in the third quarter that they could not quite overcome as the Ponder Lions walked away with the championship trophy at the Orangefield Tournament Saturday as they downed the Bobcats 50-42.

After a tight first half, the Lions (13-1) went on a 16-8 spree in the third quarter to go up 39-28. Ponder had their biggest lead of the game at 41-28 early in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats (11-5), however, kept battling and got as close as five points twice very late in the game but Ponder made some key free-throws down the stretch and limited the Orangefield offense late.

Tyler Long led the Lions with a game-high 20 points and had six rebounds.

Pete Ragusa led the Bobcats with 18 points while Payton Wrinkle tossed in 16.

Juke Kelley had six points and five boards for Ponder while Hayes Hutcherson had five points and five rebounds and Tyler and Clay Akins scored five points apiece.

Zane Wrinkle had four points and six rebounds for the Bobcats and Koen Maddox added six rebounds.

The Bobcats led 6-5 after the first quarter but Ponder rebounded to take a 23-20 lead at intermission.

Ponder finished with a 29-28 rebounding edge. The Bobcats had just nine turnovers while Ponder had 14. Ponder finished 12-of-16 from the free-throw line while the Bobcats were just 4-of-9.