A game of runs.

That is what played out in Battle Of Maries County boys basketball action last Tuesday night at Allen Gymnasium between the host Vienna Eagles and visiting Belle Tigers.

Vienna opened the game on a 9-0 run only to see Belle close the first half on a 12-4 run helping them to a 25-23 halftime lead.

Trailing 27-26 with 5:53 left in the third quarter, Vienna ended the period on a 15-3 run helping them to a 41-30 advantage after three quarters.

Even though Belle got within six on two occasions in the fourth quarter, Vienna was able to hold on for a 51-46 victory giving them the Battle of Maries County trophy and Maries County boys basketball bragging rights for another year.

“I’m so proud of how hard our guys played tonight,” Eagle head coach Chandler Harker said. “We trailed briefly but our guys were able to keep hitting shots and eventually hold on down the stretch for a huge win over our county rival.”

After a Sam Rowden bucket opened the scoring for Vienna at the 7:07 mark, Cash Stricklan scored the next seven points helping the Eagles to an early 9-0 lead with 4:30 for the opening quarter.

Belle fired back with an 8-0 run fueled by a Brayden Cadwallader bucket to go along with consecutive 3-point shots from Sam Willis and Logan Stratman.

A Duncan Wilkinson 3-pointer and two Stricklan buckets keyed an 8-3 Eagle run helping Vienna to a 17-11 lead after one quarter.

Stricklan narrowly outscored Belle by himself in the first eight minutes with 12 points for Vienna.

Now leading 19-13 on a Stricklan bucket with 5:11 for halftime, Belle caught fire and scored 10 unanswered points over a three-minute span.

Cole Loughridge started the 10-0 spurt with a bucket at the 4:10 mark of the second quarter.

Buckets by Willis and Cadwallader tied the game at 19-19 with 2:29 until halftime.

Belle took their first lead of the game on a Kaiden Robertson basket at the 1:32 mark of the second quarter.

Cadwallader capped Belle’s 10-0 run on a bucket with 1:06 for the first half giving the Tigers a 23-19 lead.

Eagle senior Tanner Bock trimmed the Belle lead to one at 23-22 with a 3-pointer at the :34 mark of the half.

Loughridge answered with another bucket seconds later helping the visiting Tigers to a slim 25-23 halftime lead.

Stratman and Loughridge led  Belle with six first-half points apiece while Stricklan torched the nets for 15 first-half markers leading the Eagles and all scorers.

Wilkinson opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer giving Vienna a 26-25 lead only to have Belle’s Baylar Smith answer with a bucket at the 5:53 mark of the third quarter for a 27-26 Tiger lead.

After a Stricklan 3-pointer with 3:23 for the third quarter, Vienna ended the period on a 15-3 run to take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter over Belle by a score of 41-30.

Trading points most of the fourth quarter, Belle got within six points twice at 46-40 on a Cadwallader bucket and 49-43 on a Cadwallader 3-point play with 41.2 left.

Holding on for the victory, Stricklan led the Eagles with a game-high 30 points in addition to six rebounds and five steals.

Wilkinson also reached double figures for Vienna scoring eight of his 11 points in the second half.

Rowden added five points, five rebounds and a game-high six blocked shots.

Bock added three points while Gabe Kleffner and Gavin Schwartze each hit a free throw for one point rounding out Vienna’s scoring.

Cadwallader and Smith each led Belle sharing team-high scoring honors with 12 points.

Stratman and Loughridge each added six points followed by five points, seven rebounds and five assists from Sam Willis.

Loughridge also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Robertson added three points and four rebounds while Talyn Litton rounded out the Tiger scoring with two points against Vienna.

In JV action, Belle scored the first 15 points of the game before ending the first half with a 30-6 lead.

In spite of being edged 18-16 in the second half, the visiting Tigers took the junior varsity game over Vienna by a final score of 46-24.

Glayden Woodruff led the JV Tigers with 14 points, three steals, three assists and a blocked shot.

Hank Stratman also reached double figures with 13 points and six rebounds.

Waylon Lenning, Seth Kleffner and Raymond Logan each led the JV Eagles with five points.