Margavio Shoots Springville Tigers to Area Tourney Final But Pleasant Grove Too Much

Local Sports

February 11, 2010

By Joel Paris CNHI

Springville — After a thrilling finish over Erwin, the Tigers faced the second ranked Pleasant Grove Spartans in the Class 5A Area 11 tournament championship game on Monday and were beaten 69-37 in Pleasant Grove.

Matt Margavio led the Tigers with 14 points and Josh Gibson added nine.

Springville travels to Wenonah tomorrow for a 7 p.m. Northeast Sub-Regional game.

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The Springville Tigers rode Margavio’s 33 points and seven rebounds to a 57-53 win over Erwin in the first round of the area tournament on Friday.

Erwin was up 30-22 at the half and forced a Springville timeout early in the third when they came out strong, scoring the quarter’s first six points in just over a minute.

A trio of Margavio three pointers provided the Tigers with a huge lift and Springville trailed 38-33 with 3:52 seconds in the third. A Josh Gibson jumper completed the 19-point third quarter and the Tigers trailed by only one with a quarter to play.

A difficult reverse layup by Jacob Gibson tied the game at 53-53 with 1:15 left to play and the next time down a Stephen Gholson jumper in the lane gave the Tigers their lead.

Josh Gibson scored 14 points with three assists. Gholson added six points, six rebounds and took three charges to spark the Tigers’ defense.

“We are so proud of how hard everybody played to get this area tournament win and the opportunity to play in the championship game,” Springville coach Jeff Smith said afterwards.

At right: Margavio shoots from beyond the arc in Monday’s game.