The second half of the basketball season is in full swing as every local team played over the weekend. Some came away with big wins.

The Fayette County Tigers (11-7, 7-2 region) and Lady Tigers (13-4, 8-1 region) swept one of their biggest rivals, Region 2-AAAA opponent Starr’s Mill, Friday night.

In their first game since being upset by region rival Whitewater, Fayette’s boys crushed Starr’s Mill 72-39.

Fayette’s girls also put a thumping on Starr’s Mill, 58-31, for their third consecutive victory. The Lady Tigers had three players score in double figures: Anma Onyeuku (14 points), Tessah Holt (13) and Kristene Walker (10). Sasha Sims added six.

The McIntosh boys (8-5, 4-5 region) and girls (6-7, 3-6) played two games over the weekend, facing region rival Northgate and non-region foe Sandy Creek.

The Chiefs won both games, 62-37 over Northgate and 69-60 over Sandy Creek.

The boys game between McIntosh and Creek was close throughout the entire contest; neither team managed to hold a double-digit lead until Robert Chubb sank a pair of free throws to put McIntosh ahead 59-49 with 2:56 remaining in the fourth quarter.

McIntosh appeared to be on the verge of pulling away from Creek in the third quarter, but the Patriots responded with a run that helped them swipe the lead.

Two Patrick Michel free throws early in the third quarter handed the Chiefs a 32-24 lead, but Creek answered with a 10-0 run to take a 34-32 lead.

Malcolm Jackson sparked the run with six points, included two highlight-reel layups.
Momentum was on Creek’s side, but McIntosh came back and went on a 9-0 run that put it back in front 41-34. The run featured four points from Michel and five from Jeremy Lampkin, who scored on a 3-pointer that hit nothing but net and a dunk off an alley oop off the backboard from Cameron Rich.

McIntosh led by at least four the rest of the way.

The Chiefs’ 2-3 zone defense, with imposing center Chubb manning the lane, caused problems for the Patriots. When Chubb left the game, Michel took over in the paint in McIntosh’s zone defense and was effective as well.

Neither Blake Brewer (23 points) nor Jackson (22), Creek’s two highest scorers, were afraid to take the ball into the paint and challenge Chubb and Michel. But it was McIntosh that played the role of the aggressor, continuously attacking the basket and drawing fouls; McIntosh went to the free throw line a whopping 49 times, making 24 free throws.

The referees weren’t as kind to Creek, which went 13-of-24 from the free throw line.
McIntosh’s aggressiveness with the basketball led to one of its most balanced scoring efforts of the season. Three McIntosh players scored in double figures — Chubb (20 points), Michel (12), and Jake Tanis (11) — and Isaac Woodley scored eight.

The Lady Chiefs lost both games, 38-36 to Northgate and 49-23 to Creek.

McIntosh’s leading scorers against Northgate were Shelbi Sims, who had 11 points, and Erin Justice, who had nine.

In the girls game between McIntosh and Creek, Creek’s talented backcourt duo, point guard Morgan Toles and shooting guard Kenneshia Rich, was too much for the Lady Chiefs.

Toles stood out at both ends of the court, running Creek’s offense with aplomb and putting immense pressure on the ball. And Rich was the perfect backcourt complement, making plays on offense and defense.

Creek established itself defensively right from the start, playing in-your-face man-to-man defense and deploying a full-court press that led to it holding the Lady Chiefs to two points in the first quarter while scoring 11. Creek’s attacking defense forced McIntosh into an inordinate amount of mistakes that plagued them in both halves.

The Lady Patriots ran McIntosh up and down the court en route to taking a commanding 20-4 lead midway through the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Rich and a long-range jumper by Toles.

Creek was set to blow out the Lady Chiefs on their home court, but Danette Hinton came off the bench and gave McIntosh a much-needed spark, scoring eight of her team-high 10 points to ignite a first half-closing 11-1 run that cut Creek’s lead to 21-15.

McIntosh was looking for its late run in the first half to carry over into the second half, but the Lady Patriots’ defense was suffocating the entire second half, limiting McIntosh to eight points.

Creek saved its best for last, outscoring McIntosh 19-2 in the fourth quarter on the way to its fourth consecutive victory.

Rich led all scorers with 14 points, Toles had 13 and Jaquaye Okai added eight.

The Creek boys (10-7, 6-0) and girls (13-3, 5-1) played Friday as well, sweeping Region 6-AAA rival Central, Carroll.

The Patriots defeated Central, Carroll 68-44 to remain undefeated in the region. Brewer scored 21 points and Darius Harris had 10 in Creek’s victory.

The Lady Patriots defeated Central, Carroll 54-45.

The Whitewater boys (3-15, 1-8 region) and girls (6-11, 1-7 region) both lost to region rival Banneker. The boys lost, 49-43, and the girls lost, 55-40.

Whitewater's girls were led by Kait Loewecke (nine points) and Jackie Gittins (seven).

Our Lady of Mercy’s boys (11-5, 3-3 region) pounded both teams they played, defeating W.D. Mohammed 78-52 and Atlanta International 72-41, to push their winning streak to five.

Mercy’s girls (4-7, 2-2 region) defeated W.D. Mohammed 52-20 and lost to Atlanta International 57-52 in overtime.

Camille Thompson scored 19 in Mercy’s victory, and Alexandria Miles scored 17 and Thompson added 14 in Mercy’s loss.

Landmark Christian’s girls, ranked third in Class A, won their 11th straight game Saturday, 56-18 over W.D. Mohammed.

Diamond Hunnicutt scored a team-high 15 points, Joe’l Christian had 14 and Dee Terrell added 10 for Landmark (12-1, 5-0 region).

Landmark’s boys (4-6, 0-4 region) were off.

login to post comments