From Staff Reports
IRVING — The Eastfield Harvesters basketball team won’t be returning to New York to play in its third consecutive national tournament.
Eastfield led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Brookhaven moved ahead early in the second half and went on to take a 96-83 win over the Harvesters in Friday’s opening round of the Region V Tournament at North Lake College.
Eastfield (19-11), the two-time defending tournament champs, struggled to a 3-7 record in conference play during the regular season and was just the No. 5 seed. They were led in Friday’s game by LaDaniel Marshall with 17 points and Donald McBride and Danzel Whitemon with 13 each.
Brookhaven (21-9) got 21 points from Charlie Alexander, 17 from Kenny Slocum, 12 from Shannon James and 10 from Laquin Turner.The fourth-seeded Bears will take on top seed Richland in the tournament semifinals Tuesday at 6 p.m. on the Thunderducks home court. Richland is undefeated at home in conference play.