Thursday, February 11, 2010
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Thursday, February 11, 2010 |
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Community | Obits | Editorial & Columnists | Society | Sports | Education | Classified Ads | Calendar of Events | Features | Newsbriefs | Legals | Archives | Subscriptions | Photo Gallery |
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Pats win district By BARRY BURLESON
The Marshall Academy Patriots and Lady Patriots are moving on in post-season play. They brought home first- and second-place trophies, respectively, from the District 1-AA Tournament at Indianola last week. Both open North AA Tournament play Wednesday (of this week) at Leake. The MA boys (22-7) beat Kirk and North Delta to claim the District 1-AA championship. The Marshall girls (14-17) stunned North Delta and lost a defensive war versus top-seeded Kirk. Patriots The Patriots let an out-manned Kirk squad hang around much of the first half before exploding for the 68-31 win Friday night. MA led 14-7 after one quarter but made a run late in the second quarter to go up 29-13 at the break. In the third, Jordan Wyke and Chase Ferrell combined for 19 points as the Pats pulled away. It was 52-23 at the end of the period. Wyke finished with 17. Ferrell followed with 13. Jake Omedeo and Mitch Gholson had eight each. The Marshall Academy boys appeared to be in cruise control in Saturday evening’s championship contest. They led North Delta by as many as 14 in the first half and as many as 18 in the second half before winning 56-48. “We never could really put them away,” coach Craig Dailey said. “North Delta has good athletes and has really improved. “I felt really good about the win.” It was the MA boys’ third straight district championship. Ferrell’s steal and lay-up gave MA a 24-10 margin with 4:27 to go in the second quarter. It was 29-19 at the half.
Taylor Maurey’s drive and lay-up put the Patriots up 46-28 with :33 ticks to go in the third period. North Delta didn’t quit and made a run in the fourth but the top-seeded Patriots won by eight. Ferrell was the top gun with 14, followed by Wyke with 12 and Maurey with 10. John Tomlinson had eight. Named to the all-tournament team were Wyke, Jake Omedeo, Ferrell and Tomlinson. Next up is North State at Leake. The Pats open Wednesday versus either Lamar or Oak Hill. Hillcrest and Manchester are also on their side of bracket. “At this point, everybody is good,” Dailey said about the task ahead. “We will take what we get and go with it.” Lady Patriots The Marshall girls avenged a pair of regular season district losses to North Delta by knocking off the Lady Green Wave 35-29 Friday in the tournament. “That win was huge,” Dailey said. “It’s been a roller coaster season for the girls – a real tough schedule – but I think it paid off.” The game was a nail-biter throughout. The Lady Pats were up 7-5 after one quarter. The game was knotted at 13 at the half and at 23 after three periods. With 3:24 left in the fourth, Kelsey Shaw drained a three to give MA a 30-25 lead and force a North Delta timeout. Shaw later nailed down the win by sinking a pair of free throws with just 20 seconds left. Shaw earned high-scoring honors with 16. Emily Burk followed with nine and Callie Clanton scored eight. “Our girls got it done,” Dailey said. “I’ve never been more proud of a group of girls. They wanted it.” The title matchup between Marshall and Kirk Saturday was unique to say the least. Only 14 points were scored in the second half The Lady Raiders escaped with a 29-20 win.
“My goodness, me and Coach (Mike) Reans are both defensive-minded coaches, and it showed,” Dailey said. “It was good defense on both ends. Kirk is a solid team. We just couldn’t get baskets when we needed them.” It appeared in the early going that Kirk would coast as it led 7-0 with 5:38 to go in the first quarter and 14-4 at the end of the period. Emma Elgin and Clanton hit back-to-back threes in the second period and trimmed the deficit to 16-10. But the Lady Raiders carried a 23-12 lead to the locker room at intermission. Elgin opened the second half with two threes. MA trailed 25-18 with 6:13 to go in the third. Neither team scored again until the 2:46 mark of the fourth quarter – a drought of more than 11 minutes.
Kirk nailed some free throws down the stretch and won by nine. Elgin scored nine for MA. Clanton added seven. Named to the all-tournament squad were Burk, Shaw and Clanton. The Lady Pats play Hillcrest in the opening round of North State Wednesday. Oak Hill and Indianola are also on their side of bracket. “Bracket-wise, we’re opposite Leake and Kirk, but we will have our hands full with Hillcrest,” Dailey said. “Everybody is tough at this point.” Marshall-JA MA squads wrapped up the regular season on Tuesday of last week with a trip to Class AAA Jackson Academy. The girls fell 44-31, while the boys lost 66-49. Burk had 15 points for the Lady Patriots, who led 21-19 at the half. Wyke scored 20 for the Pats. He hit five threes, four of those in the third quarter. Maurey added 18 points, 14 coming in the first half. MA trailed 27-24 at halftime. |
     
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