Straughn edges Southside Selma 64-61, girls win 17th

Southside Selma dictated a late surge against Straughn Friday night, but the Tigers held strong and eked out a 64-61 area victory over the Panthers at home.

With 1:16 left in the contest, Straughn led 62-57, but a drive in the lane by Southside’s Robert Sullivan narrowed the gap to three points.

SHS then gave the ball away, and luckily the Panthers missed the shot on the other end.

On transition, Straughn’s Devin Scott found Nick Stepp for an easy bucket to give the Tigers a five-point, 64-59 advantage.

Sullivan answered with 4.9 seconds left with another drive to give the game its final score of the night.

Quickly, the Panthers took a time out before the Tigers could inbound the ball.

Once the short break was over, Tigers guard Rollin Kinsaul found Devin at mid court, where he ran the clock out for the victory.

Earlier in the fourth period, Kinsaul drove the lane on a good look and put the Tigers ahead 60-48.

Sullivan then answered with another drive and Panthers guard Octavius Gulley got an old-fashioned 3-ball play to cut the game to seven at 60-53.

Gulley got another put back with more than 2 minutes left, and after Devin missed a wide open look on the Tigers’ end, the Panthers called a time out with 1:47 left.

After the time out, Jhalandis Sullivan got a drive in the lane after two Straughn missed lay ups to put the game at 60-57.

“We tried to give it away,” a relieved SHS coach Rusty Andrews said. “We’re trying to play just as up tempo as we can go, and I was screaming to slow down.

“The pressure was just so hard on them that (Southside Selma) did a good job of pushing us out of our offense,” he said. “We ran just enough sets to get enough points to finish. They (the Panthers) did a good job defensively.”

With this victory, the Tigers improve to 12-1 overall, and 3-0 in Class 3A, Area 2. SHS is back in action on Friday at Elba in non-area play.

The Tigers led 51-37 after the third period, and the Panthers (11-6) cut the lead to 51-41 on a quick 4-0 spurt.

JD Driver then found Stepp for an easy bucket to ease the pain and cut the lead back to 53-41.

In the third period, the Tigers increased their lead by as many as 16 points.

A key play came early in the third when Kinsaul drove the base line and made an up and under bucket while getting fouled to make it 40-25.

Kinsaul later found Hobie Hughes in the paint to get his team ahead 49-33 with more than a minute remaining.

The Tigers found themselves in an early deficit in the first period and trailed 8-4 before they came back on a swift 4-0 run with 3:38 left in the first period.

Driver found Hughes several times and with solid help from Brice Scott, Kinsaul and Devin Scott, the Tigers led 15-14 after the first eight minutes of the game.

The Panthers didn’t have an answer for Hughes in the first half, as he went on to score 15 of his 25 points in that time frame.

“We played well in the first half,” Andrews said. “They didn’t have an answer for Hobie down on the inside.”

Straughn went on to outscore the Panthers 20-9 to lead 35-23 at halftime.

Hughes finished with a double-double on account of his 13 rebounds. Brice Scott had 10 points. Driver had 10 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Kinsaul chipped in eight points on a good night.

Southside’s Jeffery Mack led the Panthers with 17 points. Sullivan had 15 points and Sammarkus Jones paced his team with 11 points.

In B-team action, Straughn pulled out a 15-point, 41-26 win over the Panthers.

Jonathan Driver led SHS with 14 points. Brooks Rabren added 12.

Straughn girls 64, Southside Selma girls 48

No matter what lead Straughn had over the Lady Panthers, SSHS always found a way to keep it close.

The Lady Tigers built an early lead in the first period, kept an eight-point advantage at halftime and had a lead after the third period to come away with an area victory.

With this win, the Lady Tigers have won 16 straight ball games and improve to 17-1 overall, and 3-0 in the area.

Paige Taylor and Jacie Williamson helped SHS build its early lead with good passing and shooting.

SHS led 12-4 late in the first period thanks to an Audrey Driver 3-pointer, and then Brittany Driver made two free throws with 1:54 left to cut it to 14-4.

Katelyn Kinsaul found Taylor Wood later to put the lead at 18-8, but Southside nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to keep it respectable at 18-11 after the first period.

Straughn’s Emily Wood provided a boost for her team after making a lay up on the other end after a steal to give her team a 30-20 edge.

The Lady Tigers outscored SSHS 14-13 in the second period to lead 32-24 at halftime.

Things got a little hairy in the third period as Southside came back to put the game at 36-33 with 3:39 left on a 3-ball play, taking advantage of putting the Lady Tigers out of their rhythm.

Driver got a put back and another 3-ball play later to give her team some breathing room at 39-33.

Williamson nailed two free throws and the Lady Tigers led 41-35 with 2:36 on the clock.

T. Wood later got a 3-ball and put her team ahead 46-38 going into the fourth period.

The Lady Tigers pulled away early in the fourth period and never gave up the big lead.

“I was proud of the win, but I don’t think we played our best game tonight,” SHS coach Scott Kinsaul said. “We played good enough to win. You’ve got to give Southside a lot of credit. They were able to penetrate and they did a good job with thier game plan.”

Driver led SHS with 21 points. Williamson added 14 points. Taylor chipped in six points, while Kinsaul had eight points.

K. Likely and T. Belvins led SSHS with 13 points each. A. Cunningham had 11 points.