Hawks win; Cards fall in overtime

Ded’drick Faulkner only scored two points Saturday night but those were the biggest.

His jump shot in the lane with three seconds left was the game-winner, breaking a 50-50 tie. Then teammate Dylan King added a couple of free throws with one tick left. Holly High knocked off the host team, Pontotoc, 54-50, in the final game of the Tangle on the Trail.

“We played a good game versus a good team,” coach Kenzaki Jones said.

The Hawks had to dig out of an early hole. They fell behind 11-2 just four minutes into the game.

Anthony Gulledge provided the big boost off the bench. He scored six points over a twominute span as Holly High rallied to lead 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Cori Bell hit back-to-back shots in the second as the Hawks upped their lead to 25-18. The Hawks’ high-pressure defense held the Warriors scoreless the last three and half minutes of the first half, and Derek Fountain’s three put them up 32-18 at the break.

It was 43-35 entering the fourth.

After Tyhem Reaves’ three put the Hawks up 46-37 with 5:36 left, they hit a dry spell.

Pontotoc managed to tie the game at 50 on two free throws with 14 seconds to go.

Then came Faulkner’s heroics.

“We played well and secured that 14-point lead at halftime,” Jones said. “Then in the second half they came out and caused some problems for us with their defensive intensity. But we were able to hold them off and get another great win on the road in a playoff-type atmosphere, which is always good for the future.”

Fountain had 12 points, King 10, Bell nine and Reaves and Gulledge eight each. Bell was named the game MVP.

The Hawks upped their season record to 13-4.

Potts Camp-Ripley

The Potts Camp Cardinals lost in overtime, 65-59, to Ripley earlier in the day in the Tangle on the Trail.

Coach Jeremy Dillard’s team used the never-say-die approach to almost pulling off the upset. Both teams are highly-ranked, Potts Camp in 2A and Ripley in 4A.

The turnover bug bit the Cardinals in the early going as they fell behind 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cards pulled to within four twice in the second – both on threes, one from Walter Hamilton and a later one from Kedavian Faulkner.

Then suddenly the deficit went to 10.

But they kept chipping away. Marquise Turnage drilled a three, and Faulkner scored off a steal. Potts Camp was down 29-26 at the half.

The rest of the game stayed tight – real tight.

The Cards trailed 40-39 at the end of the third, thanks to a successful drive to the hoop by Faulkner.

The game was tied three times in the fourth, at 44, at 48 and 53, that one coming on Hamilton’s three-point play that sent the contest to the extra period.

Potts Camp grabbed the lead in the OT on Faulkner’s three but couldn’t hang on and fell by six.

Faulkner finished with 22 points. Hamilton added 14, Mitchell Saulsberry nine and Martavious Frost eight.

The Cards’ record went to 11-4 on the season.