McKaig scores 14, but third quarter struggles doom Pioneer vs. Frontier

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Boys basketball

Frontier 46, Pioneer 33 (Jan. 6): Drew McKaig scored 14 points, including all four Pioneer points in the third quarter, for the visiting Panthers in a loss to Frontier on Jan. 6.

Gage Harper added six points, and Caleb Sweet had five, all in the fourth quarter.

Dayton Hoover had 23 points for Frontier, who improved to 4-5.

Frontier led 14-12 at halftime and then outscored Pioneer 16-4 in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 30-16.

Pioneer made just 3 of 16 free throws.

Frontier broke a nine-game losing streak to Pioneer and beat them for the first time since January 2014. Pioneer knocked Frontier out of the 2021 and 2022 sectionals.

PIONEER (33) (2-9)

Drew McKaig 5 3-8 14, Gage Harper 3 0-2 6, Lucas Perry 0 0-4 0, Rylahn Toloza 1 0-0 2, Caleb Sweet 2 0-0 5, Lucas Blackman 1 0-0 3, Ryan Looker 0 0-2 0, Micah Rans 0 0-0 0, Andrew Helton 0 0-0 0, Brayden Erickson 0 0-0 0, Noah Miller 1 0-0 3

TEAM: 13 3-16 33

FRONTIER (46) (4-5)

Duncan 0 0-0 0, Hoover 9 2-3 23, White 0 1-4 1, Schroeder 3 0-0 6, Reedy 0 0-0 0, Delosh 0 0-0 0, Newton 0 1-3 1, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Turner 6 1-1 13, Richter 0 0-0 0, Wiese 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0, Sorensen 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 19 5-11 46

Three-point field goals:

Pioneer 4 (McKaig, Sweet, Blackman, Miller),

Frontier 3 (Hoover 3)

Total fouls: Pioneer 14, Frontier 15

Turnovers: Pioneer 16, Frontier 20

Score by quarters

Pioneer 8 4 4 17 – 33

Frontier 10 4 16 16 – 46