GILBERT – The Gilbert Lions defeated the Burch Bulldogs at home Saturday, 62-45. Gilbert’s head coach Walt Cline felt his team showed much improvement since the last time the two teams met in the Massey Tournament at the end of December.

“I am proud of the effort the kids gave tonight. We played as a team and everyone executed well on offense and defense,” said Cline. “Rebounding was the big difference maker. We took care of the basketball and reduced the number of turnovers we had against Burch the first game we played.

“Burch had won the first meeting by 36 points in the Massey Tournament,” continued Cline. “It made us get back to the basics and work harder to prove we were a better team than we had showed in the Massey Tournament.”

The Lion’s Kyle Smith 16 points had the game high 16 points. Other scorers for Gilbert were: Ryan Altizer and Josh Carter with 12 points each, Chris Carter with 10 points, Dalton Bailey and Cody Houck with 4 points each, and Asthon Cline and Corey Robinette with 2 points each.

Burch’s forward Keith Hill was the high scorer for the Bulldogs, scoring 15 of their 45 points. Other scorers included: point guard Corey Cook and forward Jacob Stratton each with 9 points apiece, and guard Ryan Hatfield with 6 points. Gabriel Vinson scored 3 points for the Bulldogs, Troy Starr scored 2, and Dave Hatfield got on the board with 1 point.

The loss is just Burch’s second of the season, the first coming against St. Joseph Dec. 22, and brings them to a record of 4-2. The Bulldogs were scheduled to take on Matewan in their next game at Matewan High School Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

The Lions looked to play three consecutive nights this week taking on Man at home last night, an away game against Mt. View Jan. 20, and home again against the Matewan Tigers Jan. 21.

Gilbert: 15 13 20 14 — 62

Burch: 8 6 16 15 — 45