Red Level boys, girls fall to McKenzie at area tournament, end seasons

McKenzie tops RLS 51-47 in overtime

BRANTLEY — Red Level didn’t take advantage of its opportunities Tuesday night during a 51-47 overtime loss to McKenzie at Brantley High School.

For the first three periods, RLS “struggled” to put anything together offensively, boys coach Allen Catrett said.

“We played hard,” Catrett said. “They battled back. We should’ve finished up the ball game at the end of regulation there, but we didn’t do it.”

Trailing 39-27 at the start of the fourth period, Red Level went man-to-man defense and started pressing McKenzie.

That pressure led to 14-0 run, which was sparked by good inside play and made shots from mid-range.

MHS, who had the look of a different team, bounced back and played good defense down the stretch to force RLS to miss three shot opportunities at the rim with time expiring in regulation, where it ended at 42-42.

During OT, Red Level gave away too many balls, and MHS drove the paint untouched while holding out in the end for the win during the first game of the Class 1A, Area 3 tournament.

“We didn’t take care of the fundamentals as well as we should have,” Catrett said about the extra time period.

MHS started overtime with two foul shots to take a 44-42 lead, and later took advantage on a turnover as Anthony Grace grabbed a rebound off of a missed free throw from Terrance Clemons to get a putback and extra-point play to boot.

RLS answered with a nice pass from senior Marcus Robinson to Chavis Crittenden to cut it to 46-44 with 1:24 to go.

After a timeout, MHS guard Condie Pugh drove the paint untouched for a 4-point advantage, and his team led 50-45 a little later after freshman Robert Shufford drove the length of the court for an easy bucket.

Red Level’s Spencer Stallworth, a senior, got an and-1 play, but missed the free shot with 32 seconds left.

Shufford added a front-end of a pair with 6.5 left to ice the game.

While playing from a deficit, RLS could’ve folded the game to MHS, but it didn’t, Catrett said.

“You’ve got to be proud of how the boys battled,” he said. “They could’ve folded it up, but they battled.”

In the fourth period, the massive run was sparked when Crittenden got a jumper with 6:57 left on the clock.

RLS senior William Crawford then got a putback for an 8-point deficit; Stallworth got a steal and a dunk; Crittenden got a lob pass to Stallworth for a bucket after a MHS turnover; Dameyune Scott drove the lane for a layup; Crawford tied it with a jumper; and Stallworth added another steal and layup to give RLS its only lead of the game.

“We changed up defensively and went man, and put more pressure on the ball,” Catrett said. “We tried to take their ball handlers away to give us back the basketball.”

Pugh drove the lane again to tie the game at 42-42 with 58 seconds left in the fourth.

RLS drove the court, drained the clock and waited for the right opportunity.

Sophomore Jeffrey Perdue put up a missed jumper; Crawford got an offensive rebound and tried to put it back up; and Stallworth missed the tip in for those three missed opportunities late.

All night, MHS had the game in its hands on the offensive end as they grabbed essential boards for cutbacks.

Grace made a putback for a 25-13 lead early in the third period. Jeffrey Fuller made a 3-pointer with 4:03 to put the lead at 28-19.

MHS increased its lead to 32-21 when Nicarius Peterson and Pugh made back to back layups off good ball movement in the paint.

To end the third, Stallworth got back to back steals to cut it to 36-27 going into the fourth.

McKenzie outscored RLS 13-4 in the first period, and led 18-4 with 6:17 left in the first half.

The first half was keyed by two 3-pointers by McKenzie’s Crawford Vinson.

Late in the second, RLS again gave the ball up and missed too many free throws to trail 23-11 at the break.

“We let them have too many second-chance opportunities on their end, and we didn’t box out like we should have,” Catrett said. “They played hard. I told them at halftime you’re going to have off nights offensively, but you can’t have them defensively. We had too many breakdowns by halftime. Once we started playing blue collar like we were supposed to (in the fourth period) and started putting pressure, that’s when things started going our way.”

Stallworth, who was the leading scorer all season for RLS, scored 22 points and had seven rebounds in the loss. Crawford and Crittenden chipped in six points each.

Grace led MHS with 12 points. Pugh chipped in 10, and Vinson had nine.

RLS finished its season with eight wins.

MHS girls win 36-30

BRANTLEY — McKenzie went on a 10-0 run at the right time in the fourth period and went on to beat Red Level 36-30 in girls action of the Class 1A, Area 3 tournament.

RLS led 23-21 after the third period, but missed shots early in the fourth gave MHS the chance to take a lead it would never give up at Brantley High School Tuesday night.

“We had multiple opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they gave us at the end of the ball game,” RLS coach Allen Catrett said. “They changed up defensively into what we would like them to be in to, but we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Hannah Colvin broke up McKenzie’s run with a putback to make it 31-25.

The score stayed that way until Daizia Womack drove the lane and got an and-1 play with 2:32 remaining.

Red Level’s Kayla Hinson added a free throw with 2:21 to go, and after a turnover and getting the ball back, the local Tigers got a jumper from Deonna Harris to make it a 33-28 ball game.

McKenzie, who played aggressive all night with its size and athleticism, showed its fruition when Margaret Brown found Ashley Ballard for a lay in to make it 35-28.

Hinson, a junior, scored her team’s final point on a free shot.

RLS had a hard time matching up with the size of MHS because one of its best players, junior Shelby Holley, was out with a knee injury. Holley is utilized as a post player and could find open lanes to the bucket when needed during the season.

MHS led 17-14 at halftime, and RLS came out shooting in the third when Ansley Nall got in a putback with 6:07 left.

Hinson got an and-1 play with 5:43 on the ticker and RLS led for the first time all game at 19-17. Nall pushed the lead further with a putback, but Womack answered with two drives on the baseline to bring the game back to 21-21.

McKenzie’s Alexandria Clemons scored her team’s first four points, and Womack chimed in a steal and a drive to the paint for a 6-2 advantage.

From there, RLS bounced back to cut it to one late in the first when Hinson drove the paint to make it a 8-7 game after the opening eight.

MHS went on a 5-0 run to take a 13-7 lead.

Hinson broke the short spree with a free throw to help RLS outscore MHS 6-4 in the final 4:22 of the first half.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Catrett said. “They’ve improved from the start of the year to the end of the year. There are a lot of areas we’re going to work on during the off season to get better. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to get where we want to get to.”

Hinson led RLS with 17 points and 11 rebounds for a double double. Colvin chipped in six points.

Womack had 22 points, and Clemons had seven.

RLS finished its season with eight wins.