Ardmore's Taylor Creekmore protects the ball against Lindsay Lane defender Palmer Smith in the boys consolation final of the Ardmore Thanksgiving Tournament.

Lindsay Lane standout Tommy Murr scored 37 points, 28 in the first half, as the Lions defeated Ardmore 62-55 in the consolation round final in the Ardmore Thanksgiving Tournament.

Lindsay Lane actually went 3-0 in the tournament, but chose to drop into the consolation bracket after winning their quarterfinal game Monday to avoid playing Decatur Heritage for the third time this season.

The Lions defeated Huntland Wednesday morning before defeating Ardmore in the afternoon.

“You don’t play two games on the same day very often,” Lindsay Lane coach Steve Murr said. “We didn’t go real deep on the bench because we’ve got some younger guys who really aren’t ready for this type of situation. We played eight guys most of the tournament. We’re a small school and most of the boys in the school are on the team.”

Lindsay Lane roared out to a 24-9 lead after one quarter and led 43-26 at halftime behind Murr’s 28 points, which included six 3-pointers. Ardmore drastically changed its defense in the second half, having three players guard Murr at all times.

While the defense did slow down Murr’s scoring (he scored just nine points in the second half), it allowed Lindsay Lane to slow the pace down and run time off the clock due to there always being at least two open players to pass the ball to.

“They switched their defense at halftime and weren’t going to guard two of our guys,” Steve Murr said. “Our guys were tired so we took the opportunity to run some time off the clock and let the guys rest a little bit.”

Ardmore came roaring back in the third quarter, going on a 16-4 run to cut the Lions’ lead to 47-42 with 3:10 remaining in the quarter. After two straight Lindsay Lane baskets, Ardmore scored the next four points to once again trim the deficit to five with 1:15 remaining in the quarter.

However, Murr got loose for a 3-pointer which gave the Lions a 54-46 lead and Ardmore never seriously threatened again.

Lindsay Lane (8-0) really slowed the tempo in the fourth quarter, making only one basket from the field and scoring just six points. Ardmore couldn’t find its offensive rhythm with the slow pace, and could only manage nine points in the final frame.

Murr said taking on three defenders wasn’t too stressful thanks to his teammates.

“I’ve been doing it since the seventh grade,” Murr said. “My teammates did a great job with helping me. I didn’t have that a couple of years ago, but this year we have a great team. Those guys help a lot.”

Murr finished with 37 points for Lindsay Lane while Charlie Morrison added nine. Ardmore was led by Waymon Perry with 19 points, 16 of those coming in the first half. Jacob Reed chipped in with 10 points for the Tigers.

Girls Championship Game

St. John Paul II 51, Ardmore 40

The Ardmore girls nearly overcame a large second-half deficit, but could never get over the top as St. John Paul II pulled away in the final quarter to win the girls championship at the Ardmore Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Tigers trailed 26-20 at halftime, but after SPJII started the second half with five straight points, were staring at an 11-point deficit.

However, Ardmore came back strong, outscoring the Falcons 14-4 over the remaining 6:35 of the third quarter to trail by one point entering the final quarter.

Ardmore had two chances to take the lead, but two 3-point shots missed the mark. St. John Paul II stretched the lead to 40-34 before Madison Lewis’ 3-pointer cut the lead to three points again.

The two teams traded baskets for the next minute and a Chesney Widner free throw cut the Falcons lead to 43-40 with 5:10 remaining. However, Ardmore would not score again as SPJII closed the game on an 8-0 run.

Widner led Ardmore with 14 points while Savannah Moore scored 13 points for the Tigers with Lewis adding 10.

St. John Paul II’s Hannah Hall led all scorers with 18 points.