Only half of that scenario happened for each club.

Pope County started the day with a win over Joppa. Crab Orchard then edge Elverado followed by Dongola rallying past Hardin County.

All three clubs shared the title, each starting their season's 4-1.

The Trojans got 26-points from Caleb Perry as they held off a Elverado 53-48.

Coach Jon Brown's club won despite not shooting the ball well from the floor. The Trojans were just 19-of-63 from the field and hit just 4-of-25 shots from behind the arc.

They were outrebounded 41-31 and Elverado shot a much better percentage as the Falcons (1-4) hit 21-of-46 from the field.

“I think if you would have told me we would be 4-1 after this week we would have been happy with that,” said Crab Orchard head coach Jon Brown. “Most of their points today came on putbacks. Elverado was getting their points on second and third shots so we are going to have to rebound better.”

However Elverado was careless with the ball, committing 24 turnovers compared to just eight by Crab Orchard.

Perry led both teams in scoring and he came up big in the early going, scoring five points in the first two minutes as the Trojans sprinted out to a 8-2 lead.

Elverado did rally each time the Trojans got an offensive spurt.

The Falcons got 22-points and 15-rebounds from Josh Sorensen. He scored a pair of buckets that triggered a 9-2 run that got Elverado to within 22-20 in the second quarter.

His rebound basket late in the half sent the teams to the break at 25-22 Crab Orchard.

Elverado handed the Trojans much of their points in the third quarter, committing 10 of its miscues in the eight minute stretch.

Perry hit a 3-pointer to open the third and Crab Orchard's Josh Emery's steal and fast break score made it 37-27 heading into the fourth.

Trailing by eight points with 3:20 remaining after a 3-point basket by Crab's Gunnar Galloway, Elverado scored the next six points.

Sorensen, Kody Eller and Andrew Jeschke all scored, with the last two buckets coming in transition to cut the Falcons' deficit to just 45-43.

However Perry hit 2-of-3 free throws after being fouled shooting from behind the arc and added a tip in of a missed shot by teammate Ty Bailey.

Elverado had three additional chances in the final minute to get the win but turned the ball over three times.

Crab Orchard got a pair of big rebounds by Bailey off of missed Trojan free throw attempts as the hosts claimed the victory to close out their portion of the tournament.

“Ty Bailey had some huge rebounds for us, especially on a couple of missed free throws,” added Coach Brown. “But we didn't do a good job of keeping him (Sorensen) off the boards.”

Following Perry on the chart for Crab Orchard was Emery with eight points and Colton McCree with seven.

Elverado and head coach Mark Riley got eight points each from Jeschke and Kyle Whittington.

“Every possession was important at the end and we gave up too many offensive rebounds late,” said Coach Riley. “We unfortunately are averaging over 20-turnovers a game. And the frustrating part is that we played three teams that played primarily zone defense against us and we still turned it over too much. Obviously that is something we have to work on.”

Coach Russ Marsh saw his club get 18-points from Darius Schaure and 16-points from Tyler Eddleman to begin the season 4-1.

Bradley Ralls and Brock Patterson each chipped in nine and eight in the win.

Hardin County (1-4) got 17-points from Jeremy Hick and 12-points from Dustin Vaughn.

The Pirates jumped out to a 15-6 first quarter lead and cruised to the victory.

Dallas Cockrum topped all scorers with 12-points as Pope County led 42-19 after three quarters.

Joppa (1-4) was led by seven points each from Michael Sparks and Justin Harvill.