Rebels Fall in Region Basketball Quarterfinals to Lake...
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The McKenzie Banner, McKenzie, Tennessee, Tuesday, February 26, 2013 • www.mckenziebanner.com - Page 11 Sports By Lindsey Arnold [email protected] MCKENZIE (February 22) The Rebel gents hosted their first-ever Regional high school basketball contest Friday night as a packed house of McKen- zie Maniacs were present to root on the home team as they faced District 14 four-seed Lake County. District 13A MVP Trevor Wil- lis tallied a game-high 24 to- tal points and the Rebels only trailed by one point, 17-16, af- ter one period. McKenzie kept it tight in the second frame and battled to a 25-23 halftime deficit. The Falcons erupted offen- sively in the third stanza to outscore the Rebels 21-10 and increase their lead, 46-33. A Wil- lis trey at the 3:16 mark of the final canto sparked a McKenzie rally, though Lake County held off the late charge to eliminated the Rebels from postseason play via a 62-51 final tally. The District 13A Champion Rebels finish the season with a 14-2 district record and an overall record of 22-8. Lake County 62, McKenzie 51 Lake County’s Zay Coleman began scoring with a three-ball at the 7:18 mark of the first stanza. McKenzie countered with a driving lay-up by Hunter Lowe. An inbounds assist by Breshaun Oglesby to Willis gave the Rebels a 4-3 lead with 4:40 remaining in the period. Wil- lis countered another Falcon basket with a floating lay-in before LC’s Devon Jones sank a free throw and a put-back and Coleman bottomed a trey at the 2:39 mark as McKenzie trailed, 11-6. Willis answered with a field goal and Lowe convert- ed two shots from the charity stripe with 1:03 remaining in the quarter to narrow the gap. Willis assisted Edwin Dudley’s first bucket in the post and Wil- lis notched another dish with a no-look pass to Devyn Crowell in the corner for three at the 12 second mark, though the Falcons led 17-16 at the end of the first frame. Both defenses locked down in the second period as neither squad tallied in the double dig- its. Falcon Coleman scored via driving lay-up at the 6:30 mark before Willis answered via float- er in the lane. Willis provided a no-look, fastbreak assist to Dudley in the paint to return the lead to the Rebels, 20-19. At the foul line in the final min- utes of the half, Lake County converted two-of-four to McK- enzie’s three-of-four free throw attempts, but Falcons Jones and Coleman added a put-back and pull-up buzzer-beater, respec- tively, as the Rebels trailed at the half, 25-23. The Falcons opened the third frame via a pair of field goals by Jones and a Coleman three- pointer for a 7-0 run to push their lead to nine points, 32-23. The Rebels countered with a Willis jumper and Oglesby char- ity stripe twofer. Willis assisted an Oglesby lay-up on the fast- break after McKenzie began a full-court press on defense at the 4:28 mark, trailing 32-29. Un- fortunately for the Rebel faith- ful, Lake County responded via 14-4 run to take a 46-33 lead into the final canto. McKenzie was limited to a single Lowe free throw and a Willis trey in the run. Despite losing momentum at the end of the third stanza, McKenzie battled early in the fourth frame with a Willis-as- sisted basket by Dudley, a Lowe free throw conversion and Willis three-pointer at the 3:16 mark. Jones kept pace for the Falcons with a pair of field goals and a two-for-two trip to the foul line. Rebel Curtis Broadbent sank a pair of free throws, Willis scored a fast-break lay-up and Oglesby drained a jumper to keep McKenzie close down the stretch. Falcon Justin Kimble notched his only points of the game with a pair of post buck- ets. Despite Lake County shoot- ing only four-of-twelve from the charity stripe in the fourth’s final minutes, baskets by the Rebels’ Broadbent (trey) and Willis (“hard” three-point play with free throw at the 33 second mark) weren’t enough to close the gap as the Falcons advanced to Region 7 semifinals action on Monday night. Leading the Rebels in scoring were Willis (24), Lowe (7), Dud- ley (6), Oglesby (6), Broadbent (5) and Crowell (3). Falcon leading scorers in- cluded Jones (24), Coleman (19), Dominique Kimble (5), Darius Johnson (5), J. Kimble (4), Ra- heem Flowers (2), Rashawn Tay- lor (2) and Tyler Estes (1). Rebel Hunter Lowe prepares to drive the baseline on Falcon Devon Jones in Regional high school basketball Friday night. Rebel Trevor Willis floats acrobatically to the hoop in Regional quarterfinal action against the Lake County Falcons Friday Night at the MHS gym. Rebels Fall in Region Basketball Quarterfinals to Lake County, 62-51 By Ernie Smothers [email protected] UNION CITY (February 22) In Region 7A high school bas- ketball tournament action, the Huntingdon Mustangs utilized the inspired play of senior Dylan Poole (18) and junior Justice Scott (22) to nearly upset highly- favored Union City, 62-58. With the loss, Huntingdon bids farewell to seniors’ Poole, Ola- juwon Clark, Thomas Wheatley, Mitchell Lockhart and Nicky Myles. Golden Tornadoes 62, Mus- tangs 58 Battling through Union City’s full-court pressure, Mustang Dylan Poole commenced game- scoring via a 15-foot deuce. Union City responded with a lay-up by Malik Stockdale before Poole drained a jumper to put Hunting- don up, 4-2, at the 6:26 mark of the first clip. Answering, Union City notched a lay-up and base- line deuce by Donte Simpson and two-pointer from the right side by Marcus Deberry to lead, 8-4, at the 2:31 mark. Following a Simpson lay-up, Huntingdon rallied by way of Olujuwon Clark lay-up and Poole jumper to trail, 12-8, at the end of the first canto. Union City built its lead to 18-8 early in the second frame before Poole scored via putback and Clark assisted Tyler Bush in the paint. Continuing to employ full-court pressure, Union City added a Deberry jumper, a Simp- son putback and a Jamie Hyde to Simpson assist to widen its lead to 20-14 at the 4:14 mark of the second square. Bush scored via drive in the paint before Union City countered with a Dickerson putback, Stockdale steal-and-score and Khiri Lewis three-pointer to increase its lead to 27-16. Answering, Huntingdon netted a jumper by Poole and Jake Sisk drive to close to 29-20 at the 1:57 mark. Scott added two free throw swishes before Simp- son netted a putback and Lewis added a lay-in to give Union City a 33-22 lead at the half. Huntingdon converted nine of 28 shot attempts in the first half. Resuming play in the second half, Huntingdon came out smok- ing offensively as Sisk assisted Scott in the paint, Scott netted a 16-foot jumper, Clark swished a deuce and Thomas Wheatley stole the ball and assisted Scott as the Mustangs trailed Union City, 33-30, at the 6:51 mark of the third stanza. Following a Simpson three-bomb from the top-of-the-key, Huntingdon inten- sified its offensive attack as Sisk netted a deuce and charity toss and added a steal and three-point assist to Clark as Huntingdon knotted the contest at 36 at the 3:29 mark. During their impres- sive run, the Mustangs netted six consecutive shots. Rattled, Union City called a timeout to re-group. Responding to a terse, time-out talk from their coach, the Golden Tornadoes answered via Lewis deuce, Dickerson free throw toss, Simpson two-pointer off the glass and Deberry trey to go up, 44-36, at the 2:02 mark of the third period. Refusing to bow, Huntingdon added a Scott putback, Poole deuce and rim- rattling slam-dunk by Scott to trail at the end of the third quar- ter, 48-42. Tightening down via full-court pressure, Union City converted consecutive Huntingdon turn- overs into lay-ups by Deberry and Simpson. Fouled on the en- suing possession while attempt- ing a trey, Deberry netted two-of three-charity stripe attempts as Union City led, 54-42, at the 5:44 mark of the fourth canto. Deter- mined, Scott rallied his squad via three consecutive deuces and a high-arcing three-bomb from the right corner as Huntingdon roared back to trail Union City, 58-52, at the 2:29 mark. Follow- ing a Hyde deuce off the glass, Huntingdon, switching to full- court press, narrowed the Tor- nadoes lead to 60-58 with 24 ticks remaining on the clock via Poole steal and jumper, Scott deuce in the paint and Poole putback. With 15 seconds remaining, De- berry was fouled and stepped to the charity stripe. Calmly, Deber- ry netted two crucial free throws to give his team a narrow, 62-58 lead. Racing down court, Poole unleashed a three-point attempt that rimmed-out. Retrieving the ball, Scott fired a desperation trey that also bounded off the rim as time expired and Union City escaped with a hard-fought, 62-58 win over Huntingdon. The Mustangs scorched the nets in the second half, convert- ing 16 of 25 shot conversions from the floor. Huntingdon was led by the scoring of Scott (22), Poole (18), Clark (9), Sisk (5) and Bush (4). Union City was paced by the scoring of Simpson (21), Deberry (13), Dickerson (7), Hyde (6), Lew- is (5) and Stockdale (4). Mustangs Battle, Fall to Tornadoes, 62-58 HUMBOLDT (February 22) — Humboldt, paced by game high- scorer De’Shonta Bradford (28), defeated West Carroll 83-38 in the quarterfinals of the Region 7-A Tournament. Humboldt opened with a 14-0 run punctuated by a Bradford defensive steal and dunk. West Carroll scored its first points at the 2:58 mark the first quarter, but finished with an 8-4 run to trail at the end of the first canto, 22-13. Viking Bradford began the second quarter with another steal and dunk. Battling, West Carroll cut Humboldt’s lead to eight points after a Jamal Glenn three-pointer from the top-of-the- key at the 3:22 mark.Respond- ing, Bradford capped the first half with a buzzer-beater as the Vikings led at tthe break, 38-25. Bradford netted 21 points in the first half of play. Both teams ripped four con- secutive treys before Humboldt unleashed a 24-7 run to lead, 68-38, at the start of the fourth quarter. In the final canto, Humboldt reserves outscored War Eagle reserves, 12-0. The Vikings were led offen- sivley byBradford (28), Stephen Turner (13) and Nick McLilly(13). Jamal Glenn led the War Ea- gles with 15 points. Jo Bell added nine points. Humboldt advances to the Re- gion 7-A semifinals to play South Fulton, a 49-43 winner over Dres- den on Friday night. Vikings Eliminate War Eagles, 83-38 UNION CITY (February 21) Despite Tierra Williams’ stellar 19-point performance, West Car- roll was eliminated in the Region 7A opener by Union City, 49-33. Lady Tornadoes 49, Lady War Eagles In a low-scoring first peri- od of play, West Carroll’s Wil- liams closed the quarter with consecutive deuces as the Lady War Eagles narrowly trailed the highly-favored, first ranked Lady Tornadoes, 11-10. Cassidy Cozart nailed a three- bomb at the 5:04 mark of the second canto to give West Carroll its lone lead of the contest, 14-13. Emmani Melton added a charity toss on the ensuing West Carroll possession before Union City erupted via a 12-2 run to lead at the half, 25-17. Resuming play in the second half. Union City ignited offen- sively via a 12-0 run to lead, 37- 17, at the 3:25 mark of the third stanza. Continuing to score well, the Lady Tornadoes built a 20-point lead twice in the fourth block en route to their 49-33 win. Lady Tornadoes Defeat Lady War Eagles, 49-33 By Ernie Smothers [email protected] SOUTH FULTON (February 21) Despite determined offen- sive and defensive performances by Savannah Dodson, Hannah Belew, Keleah Bailey, Paige Jen- nette and Morgan McMackin, the Huntingdon Fillies were elimi- nated from post-season play via an 44-32, Region 7 loss to the South Fulton Lady Red Devils. Sarah Cross led the Lady Red Devils with 21 points. Lady Red Devils 44, Fillies 32 South Fulton jumped out to an early 11-4 lead at the end of the first period via the scoring of Cross, Laken Hailey and Kaylen Martin. Huntingdon, having no trouble defeating the Lady Red Devil full-court press, seemed tentative to attack the basket in the first frame. Shaking off early-game jitters, Huntingdon invaded the paint via baskets by Keleah Bailey, Jen- nette and Belew to knot the con- test at 16 at the 1:40 mark of the second canto.South Fulton added a drive by Martin and a buzzer- beating deuce by Cross from the right side to lead Huntingdon at the half, 20-17. Continuing to play aggres- sively on both ends of the court, Huntingdon utilized the scor- ing of Dodson and McMackin and physical rebounding to trail South Fulton at the end of the third square, 25-23. Following a Easterwood drive, Huntingdon answered via Dod- son’s jumper from the right side. Battling back, Cross netted a bank shot to give South Fulton an 29-26 lead at the 4:49 mark of the fourth quarter. Working the ball into the paint, Belew swished a drive from the right side to cut the Lady Red Devils lead to 29-28. As Huntingdon’s foul-count begin to rise, Martin responded via putback and East- erwood netted two free throws and a deuce off the glass. At the 2:24 mark of the fourth pe- riod, Belew fouled-out of the contest. Continuing to push the ball into the paint, South Fulton extended its lead via 8-0 run by way of four free throw swishes by Cross as Dodson fouled-out. With 38 seconds remaining in the contest, McMackin capped her stellar prep basketball ca- reer by swishing two free throw tosses as South Fulton defeated the Fillies, 44-32. Huntingdon was led by the scoring of McMackin (8), Dodson (8), Belew (6), Bailey (5) and Jen- nette (5). South Fulton was paced offen- sively by Cross (21), Martin (6), Easterwood (6), Haley (4), Coley (4) and Rogers (3). Fillies Eliminated by South Fulton, 44-32 Hayes Pitches in the Major Leagues for the Reds Special to The Banner By Gary Schartz GOODYEAR AZ – (February 22) The 25-year old 2006 graduate of McKenzie High School is in his first big league training camp. The Reds coaching staff is getting to see firsthand what a talent they have waiting in the wings. Hayes has already earned minor league honors in the Reds’ system as he did back home. In 2011 he was named to the Midwest League All-Star team and received the Reds’ organization Community Service award. In 2006 Hayes was named the Tennessee Coaches Association Player of the Year on the heels of earning All-State honors in football and the 2005 Mr. Football award in Ten- nessee. He also earned all-district honors in basketball. The Reds planned to get him into the pre-season exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians on Saturday but Carlos Contreras was in trouble when he reached his pitch count limit on Friday. The bases were loaded with one out when Dusty Baker removed Con- treras. Hayes was the man he picked to get the Reds out of the inning. It was a situation that he didn’t have time to prepare for. Hayes sinker missed its mark and Mike McCade sliced a double into the leftfield corner to drive in the three runs that turned a 10-8 Cincinnati lead into a 11-10 defeat. Still Baker saw positives in the experience. Hayes has been in many clutch situations during his playing days in Tennessee and treated his first big league experience as a chal- lenge. He went right after McCade. The situation reminded Baker of Mike Leake’s debut. Leake was the first pick in the 2010 draft. Hayes was taken in the 11th round. Leake’s first start was against the Chicago Cubs in 2010. He loaded the bases with no outs and got out of the inning without a run scored. Hayes didn’t quite escape but Baker is pleased with his effort. Leake didn’t spend a day in the minor leagues. Hayes rise is a bit slower but it is still at a faster pace than most. In 2010 the former Rebel pitcher went to Billings, Montana in the rookie league. the right-hander was 1-3 with a 2.42 ERA. He struck out 25 batters in 22 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Dayton in 2011. His ERA dropped to 1.35 while com- pleting 22 saves. Even more telling were his 89 strikeouts in 60 in- nings while issuing just 27 walks. Hayes skipped high A Bakersfield completely and went straight to AA Pensacola. He was 2-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 56 games, one of which was a start. He turned in a 3.41 ERA in a setup role. Hayes was second in the Southern League with 56 appearances and tied for second with 11 holds. Teams are allowed to send five of its best prospects to the Arizona Fall League each year. Hayes was one of them. He pitched in 11 games including a start. His record was 2-0 and he had a 4.50 ERA in 14 innings. The Reds invited the former McKenzie pitcher to his first major league spring training. McKenzie–The No. 15 Bethel Wild- cats suffered a tough home loss Sat- urday afternoon at the Crisp Center as Darnell Moore’s 17 -foot jumper fell off the rim at the buzzer giving Mid-Continent a 75-74 win. Bethel led 74-72 when MCU’s Lar- ry Thompkins hit a shot and was fouled. His free throw gave MCU a 75-74 lead with seven seconds left as the Cougars escaped with a big road win. The Wildcats had a 12 point ad- vantage with four minutes left in the first half berfore MCU got the game within reach as they cut the deficit to 38-33 at the half. In the second half, Bethel led 60-52 with just over seven minutes left before the Cougars fought back behind the scoring of Gavin Scott to claw their way back into the game. Scott led MCU with 20 points with 16 of those coming in the second half. Thompkins and Charles Peden had 14 points each for the Cougars. Jarvis Palmer, one of six seniors honored in pre-game ceremonies, led Bethel with 21 points. Caleb Hardy tossed in 19 points. Bethel fell to 24-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play. MCU improved to 17-12 overall and 5-5 in conference play. Along with Palmer, five other players and manager Bianca Hart were honored by Coach Jeff Britt just before tip-off. George Coleman, Moore, Josh Swing, Bryan Ware, and Stephen Gillette received a big ova- tion from the partisan crowd. The Wildcats return to action Thursday night at home hosting Blue Mountain in the TranSouth Conference Tournament. The Cats enter the game as the third seed while BMC is a six seed. Bethel beat the Toppers twice during the regular season. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Wildcats Suffer Tough Loss to Mid-Continent
Transcript of Rebels Fall in Region Basketball Quarterfinals to Lake...
The McKenzie Banner, McKenzie, Tennessee, Tuesday, February 26, 2013 • www.mckenziebanner.com - Page 11
SportsBy Lindsey [email protected]
MCKENZIE (February 22) The Rebel gents hosted their first-ever Regional high school basketball contest Friday night as a packed house of McKen-zie Maniacs were present to root on the home team as they faced District 14 four-seed Lake County.
District 13A MVP Trevor Wil-lis tallied a game-high 24 to-tal points and the Rebels only trailed by one point, 17-16, af-ter one period. McKenzie kept it tight in the second frame and battled to a 25-23 halftime deficit.
The Falcons erupted offen-sively in the third stanza to outscore the Rebels 21-10 and increase their lead, 46-33. A Wil-lis trey at the 3:16 mark of the final canto sparked a McKenzie rally, though Lake County held off the late charge to eliminated the Rebels from postseason play via a 62-51 final tally.
The District 13A Champion Rebels finish the season with a 14-2 district record and an overall record of 22-8.
Lake County 62, McKenzie 51Lake County’s Zay Coleman
began scoring with a three-ball at the 7:18 mark of the first stanza. McKenzie countered with a driving lay-up by Hunter Lowe. An inbounds assist by Breshaun Oglesby to Willis gave the Rebels a 4-3 lead with 4:40 remaining in the period. Wil-lis countered another Falcon basket with a floating lay-in before LC’s Devon Jones sank a free throw and a put-back and Coleman bottomed a trey at the 2:39 mark as McKenzie trailed, 11-6. Willis answered with a field goal and Lowe convert-
ed two shots from the charity stripe with 1:03 remaining in the quarter to narrow the gap. Willis assisted Edwin Dudley’s first bucket in the post and Wil-lis notched another dish with a no-look pass to Devyn Crowell in the corner for three at the 12 second mark, though the Falcons led 17-16 at the end of the first frame.
Both defenses locked down in the second period as neither squad tallied in the double dig-its. Falcon Coleman scored via driving lay-up at the 6:30 mark before Willis answered via float-er in the lane. Willis provided a no-look, fastbreak assist to Dudley in the paint to return the lead to the Rebels, 20-19. At the foul line in the final min-utes of the half, Lake County converted two-of-four to McK-enzie’s three-of-four free throw attempts, but Falcons Jones and Coleman added a put-back and pull-up buzzer-beater, respec-tively, as the Rebels trailed at the half, 25-23.
The Falcons opened the third frame via a pair of field goals by Jones and a Coleman three-pointer for a 7-0 run to push their lead to nine points, 32-23. The Rebels countered with a Willis jumper and Oglesby char-ity stripe twofer. Willis assisted an Oglesby lay-up on the fast-break after McKenzie began a full-court press on defense at the 4:28 mark, trailing 32-29. Un-fortunately for the Rebel faith-ful, Lake County responded via 14-4 run to take a 46-33 lead into the final canto. McKenzie was limited to a single Lowe free throw and a Willis trey in the run.
Despite losing momentum at the end of the third stanza, McKenzie battled early in the
fourth frame with a Willis-as-sisted basket by Dudley, a Lowe free throw conversion and Willis three-pointer at the 3:16 mark.
Jones kept pace for the Falcons with a pair of field goals and a two-for-two trip to the foul line. Rebel Curtis Broadbent sank
a pair of free throws, Willis scored a fast-break lay-up and Oglesby drained a jumper to keep McKenzie close down the stretch. Falcon Justin Kimble notched his only points of the game with a pair of post buck-ets. Despite Lake County shoot-ing only four-of-twelve from the charity stripe in the fourth’s final minutes, baskets by the Rebels’ Broadbent (trey) and Willis (“hard” three-point play with free throw at the 33 second mark) weren’t enough to close
the gap as the Falcons advanced to Region 7 semifinals action on Monday night.
Leading the Rebels in scoring were Willis (24), Lowe (7), Dud-ley (6), Oglesby (6), Broadbent (5) and Crowell (3).
Falcon leading scorers in-cluded Jones (24), Coleman (19), Dominique Kimble (5), Darius Johnson (5), J. Kimble (4), Ra-heem Flowers (2), Rashawn Tay-lor (2) and Tyler Estes (1).
Rebel Hunter Lowe prepares to drive the baseline on Falcon Devon Jones in Regional high school basketball Friday night.
Rebel Trevor Willis floats acrobatically to the hoop in Regional quarterfinal action against the Lake County Falcons Friday Night at the MHS gym.
Rebels Fall in Region Basketball Quarterfinals to Lake County, 62-51
By Ernie [email protected]
UNION CITY (February 22) In Region 7A high school bas-ketball tournament action, the Huntingdon Mustangs utilized the inspired play of senior Dylan Poole (18) and junior Justice Scott (22) to nearly upset highly-favored Union City, 62-58.
With the loss, Huntingdon bids farewell to seniors’ Poole, Ola-juwon Clark, Thomas Wheatley, Mitchell Lockhart and Nicky Myles.
Golden Tornadoes 62, Mus-tangs 58
Battling through Union City’s full-court pressure, Mustang Dylan Poole commenced game-scoring via a 15-foot deuce. Union City responded with a lay-up by Malik Stockdale before Poole drained a jumper to put Hunting-don up, 4-2, at the 6:26 mark of the first clip. Answering, Union City notched a lay-up and base-line deuce by Donte Simpson and two-pointer from the right side by Marcus Deberry to lead, 8-4, at the 2:31 mark. Following a Simpson lay-up, Huntingdon rallied by way of Olujuwon Clark lay-up and Poole jumper to trail, 12-8, at the end of the first canto.
Union City built its lead to 18-8 early in the second frame before Poole scored via putback and Clark assisted Tyler Bush in the paint. Continuing to employ full-court pressure, Union City added a Deberry jumper, a Simp-son putback and a Jamie Hyde to Simpson assist to widen its lead to 20-14 at the 4:14 mark of the second square. Bush scored via drive in the paint before
Union City countered with a Dickerson putback, Stockdale steal-and-score and Khiri Lewis three-pointer to increase its lead to 27-16. Answering, Huntingdon netted a jumper by Poole and Jake Sisk drive to close to 29-20 at the 1:57 mark. Scott added two free throw swishes before Simp-son netted a putback and Lewis added a lay-in to give Union City a 33-22 lead at the half.
Huntingdon converted nine of 28 shot attempts in the first half.
Resuming play in the second half, Huntingdon came out smok-ing offensively as Sisk assisted Scott in the paint, Scott netted a 16-foot jumper, Clark swished a deuce and Thomas Wheatley stole the ball and assisted Scott as the Mustangs trailed Union City, 33-30, at the 6:51 mark of the third stanza. Following a Simpson three-bomb from the top-of-the-key, Huntingdon inten-sified its offensive attack as Sisk netted a deuce and charity toss and added a steal and three-point assist to Clark as Huntingdon knotted the contest at 36 at the 3:29 mark. During their impres-sive run, the Mustangs netted six consecutive shots. Rattled, Union City called a timeout to re-group. Responding to a terse, time-out talk from their coach, the Golden Tornadoes answered via Lewis deuce, Dickerson free throw toss, Simpson two-pointer off the glass and Deberry trey to go up, 44-36, at the 2:02 mark of the third period. Refusing to bow, Huntingdon added a Scott putback, Poole deuce and rim-rattling slam-dunk by Scott to trail at the end of the third quar-ter, 48-42.
Tightening down via full-court pressure, Union City converted consecutive Huntingdon turn-overs into lay-ups by Deberry and Simpson. Fouled on the en-suing possession while attempt-ing a trey, Deberry netted two-of three-charity stripe attempts as Union City led, 54-42, at the 5:44 mark of the fourth canto. Deter-mined, Scott rallied his squad via three consecutive deuces and a high-arcing three-bomb from the right corner as Huntingdon roared back to trail Union City, 58-52, at the 2:29 mark. Follow-ing a Hyde deuce off the glass, Huntingdon, switching to full-court press, narrowed the Tor-nadoes lead to 60-58 with 24 ticks remaining on the clock via Poole steal and jumper, Scott deuce in the paint and Poole putback. With 15 seconds remaining, De-berry was fouled and stepped to the charity stripe. Calmly, Deber-ry netted two crucial free throws to give his team a narrow, 62-58 lead. Racing down court, Poole unleashed a three-point attempt that rimmed-out. Retrieving the ball, Scott fired a desperation trey that also bounded off the rim as time expired and Union City escaped with a hard-fought, 62-58 win over Huntingdon.
The Mustangs scorched the nets in the second half, convert-ing 16 of 25 shot conversions from the floor.
Huntingdon was led by the scoring of Scott (22), Poole (18), Clark (9), Sisk (5) and Bush (4).
Union City was paced by the scoring of Simpson (21), Deberry (13), Dickerson (7), Hyde (6), Lew-is (5) and Stockdale (4).
Mustangs Battle, Fall to Tornadoes, 62-58
HUMBOLDT (February 22) — Humboldt, paced by game high-scorer De’Shonta Bradford (28), defeated West Carroll 83-38 in the quarterfinals of the Region 7-A Tournament.
Humboldt opened with a 14-0 run punctuated by a Bradford defensive steal and dunk. West Carroll scored its first points at the 2:58 mark the first quarter, but finished with an 8-4 run to trail at the end of the first canto, 22-13.
Viking Bradford began the
second quarter with another steal and dunk. Battling, West Carroll cut Humboldt’s lead to eight points after a Jamal Glenn three-pointer from the top-of-the-key at the 3:22 mark.Respond-ing, Bradford capped the first half with a buzzer-beater as the Vikings led at tthe break, 38-25.
Bradford netted 21 points in the first half of play.
Both teams ripped four con-secutive treys before Humboldt unleashed a 24-7 run to lead, 68-38, at the start of the fourth
quarter.In the final canto, Humboldt
reserves outscored War Eagle reserves, 12-0.
The Vikings were led offen-sivley byBradford (28), Stephen Turner (13) and Nick McLilly(13).
Jamal Glenn led the War Ea-gles with 15 points. Jo Bell added nine points.
Humboldt advances to the Re-gion 7-A semifinals to play South Fulton, a 49-43 winner over Dres-den on Friday night.
Vikings Eliminate War Eagles, 83-38
UNION CITY (February 21) Despite Tierra Williams’ stellar 19-point performance, West Car-roll was eliminated in the Region 7A opener by Union City, 49-33.
Lady Tornadoes 49, Lady War Eagles
In a low-scoring first peri-od of play, West Carroll’s Wil-liams closed the quarter with consecutive deuces as the Lady
War Eagles narrowly trailed the highly-favored, first ranked Lady Tornadoes, 11-10.
Cassidy Cozart nailed a three-bomb at the 5:04 mark of the second canto to give West Carroll its lone lead of the contest, 14-13. Emmani Melton added a charity toss on the ensuing West Carroll possession before Union City erupted via a 12-2 run to lead at
the half, 25-17.Resuming play in the second
half. Union City ignited offen-sively via a 12-0 run to lead, 37-17, at the 3:25 mark of the third stanza.
Continuing to score well, the Lady Tornadoes built a 20-point lead twice in the fourth block en route to their 49-33 win.
Lady Tornadoes Defeat Lady War Eagles, 49-33
By Ernie [email protected]
SOUTH FULTON (February 21) Despite determined offen-sive and defensive performances by Savannah Dodson, Hannah Belew, Keleah Bailey, Paige Jen-nette and Morgan McMackin, the Huntingdon Fillies were elimi-nated from post-season play via an 44-32, Region 7 loss to the South Fulton Lady Red Devils.
Sarah Cross led the Lady Red Devils with 21 points.
Lady Red Devils 44, Fillies 32South Fulton jumped out to an
early 11-4 lead at the end of the first period via the scoring of Cross, Laken Hailey and Kaylen Martin. Huntingdon, having no trouble defeating the Lady Red Devil full-court press, seemed tentative to attack the basket in the first frame.
Shaking off early-game jitters,
Huntingdon invaded the paint via baskets by Keleah Bailey, Jen-nette and Belew to knot the con-test at 16 at the 1:40 mark of the second canto.South Fulton added a drive by Martin and a buzzer-beating deuce by Cross from the right side to lead Huntingdon at the half, 20-17.
Continuing to play aggres-sively on both ends of the court, Huntingdon utilized the scor-ing of Dodson and McMackin and physical rebounding to trail South Fulton at the end of the third square, 25-23.
Following a Easterwood drive, Huntingdon answered via Dod-son’s jumper from the right side. Battling back, Cross netted a bank shot to give South Fulton an 29-26 lead at the 4:49 mark of the fourth quarter. Working the ball into the paint, Belew swished a drive from the right side to cut the Lady Red Devils
lead to 29-28. As Huntingdon’s foul-count begin to rise, Martin responded via putback and East-erwood netted two free throws and a deuce off the glass. At the 2:24 mark of the fourth pe-riod, Belew fouled-out of the contest. Continuing to push the ball into the paint, South Fulton extended its lead via 8-0 run by way of four free throw swishes by Cross as Dodson fouled-out. With 38 seconds remaining in the contest, McMackin capped her stellar prep basketball ca-reer by swishing two free throw tosses as South Fulton defeated the Fillies, 44-32.
Huntingdon was led by the scoring of McMackin (8), Dodson (8), Belew (6), Bailey (5) and Jen-nette (5).
South Fulton was paced offen-sively by Cross (21), Martin (6), Easterwood (6), Haley (4), Coley (4) and Rogers (3).
Fillies Eliminated by South Fulton, 44-32
Hayes Pitches in the Major Leagues for the Reds
Special to The BannerBy Gary SchartzGOODYEAR AZ – (February 22)
The 25-year old 2006 graduate of McKenzie High School is in his first big league training camp. The Reds coaching staff is getting to see firsthand what a talent they have waiting in the wings.
Hayes has already earned minor league honors in the Reds’ system as he did back home.
In 2011 he was named to the Midwest League All-Star team and received the Reds’ organization Community Service award. In 2006 Hayes was named the Tennessee Coaches Association Player of the Year on the heels of earning All-State honors in football and the 2005 Mr. Football award in Ten-nessee. He also earned all-district honors in basketball.
The Reds planned to get him into the pre-season exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians on Saturday but Carlos Contreras was in trouble when he reached his pitch count limit on Friday. The bases were loaded with one out when Dusty Baker removed Con-
treras. Hayes was the man he picked to get the Reds out of the inning. It was a situation that he didn’t have time to prepare for.
Hayes sinker missed its mark and Mike McCade sliced a double into the leftfield corner to drive in the three runs that turned a 10-8 Cincinnati lead into a 11-10 defeat.
Still Baker saw positives in the experience.
Hayes has been in many clutch situations during his playing days in Tennessee and treated his first big league experience as a chal-lenge.
He went right after McCade.The situation reminded Baker of
Mike Leake’s debut. Leake was the first pick in the 2010 draft. Hayes was taken in the 11th round.
Leake’s first start was against the Chicago Cubs in 2010. He loaded the bases with no outs and got out of the inning without a run scored. Hayes didn’t quite escape but Baker is pleased with his effort.
Leake didn’t spend a day in the minor leagues. Hayes rise is a bit slower but it is still at a faster pace
than most.In 2010 the former Rebel pitcher
went to Billings, Montana in the rookie league. the right-hander was 1-3 with a 2.42 ERA. He struck out 25 batters in 22 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Dayton in 2011. His ERA dropped to 1.35 while com-pleting 22 saves. Even more telling were his 89 strikeouts in 60 in-nings while issuing just 27 walks. Hayes skipped high A Bakersfield completely and went straight to AA Pensacola. He was 2-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 56 games, one of which was a start. He turned in a 3.41 ERA in a setup role. Hayes was second in the Southern League with 56 appearances and tied for second with 11 holds.
Teams are allowed to send five of its best prospects to the Arizona Fall League each year. Hayes was one of them. He pitched in 11 games including a start. His record was 2-0 and he had a 4.50 ERA in 14 innings.
The Reds invited the former McKenzie pitcher to his first major league spring training.
McKenzie–The No. 15 Bethel Wild-cats suffered a tough home loss Sat-urday afternoon at the Crisp Center as Darnell Moore’s 17 -foot jumper fell off the rim at the buzzer giving Mid-Continent a 75-74 win.
Bethel led 74-72 when MCU’s Lar-ry Thompkins hit a shot and was fouled. His free throw gave MCU a 75-74 lead with seven seconds left as the Cougars escaped with a big road win.
The Wildcats had a 12 point ad-vantage with four minutes left in the first half berfore MCU got the game within reach as they cut the deficit
to 38-33 at the half. In the second half, Bethel led
60-52 with just over seven minutes left before the Cougars fought back behind the scoring of Gavin Scott to claw their way back into the game. Scott led MCU with 20 points with 16 of those coming in the second half. Thompkins and Charles Peden had 14 points each for the Cougars.
Jarvis Palmer, one of six seniors honored in pre-game ceremonies, led Bethel with 21 points. Caleb Hardy tossed in 19 points. Bethel fell to 24-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play. MCU improved to 17-12 overall and
5-5 in conference play. Along with Palmer, five other
players and manager Bianca Hart were honored by Coach Jeff Britt just before tip-off. George Coleman, Moore, Josh Swing, Bryan Ware, and Stephen Gillette received a big ova-tion from the partisan crowd.
The Wildcats return to action Thursday night at home hosting Blue Mountain in the TranSouth Conference Tournament. The Cats enter the game as the third seed while BMC is a six seed. Bethel beat the Toppers twice during the regular season. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
Wildcats Suffer Tough Loss to Mid-Continent
