Tigers down Trojans
Published 12:00 am Friday, January 14, 2005
Tuesday night's game between the Charles Henderson Trojans and the Greenville Tigers turned into a battle of the free throw shooters in the fourth quarter.
The first points of the game were put on the board by the Trojans
and one of the game's final three points were put on the board with a free throw.
The Tigers squandered a 14 point lead in the second half, but managed to keep enough of a lead, never letting it slip below four for the duration of the game.
After battling back and forth for the first period, the Tigers finally found their groove and had the Trojans looking clueless, resulting in a 14-9 first period lead.
The momentum the Tigers lacked on the road, was found in the city of Greenville.
Devoski McMeans drained a three in the second period to expand the Tiger lead to 19-13 and then Curtis Fields tacked on an additional bucket, pushing the lead to eight, 21-13.
Both teams traded baskets, but the Tigers were still able to come out on top posting a 33-18 halftime score.
The Tigers opened the third period like they did the first two with a scoring run. Greenville, carried by Isiah Mack, Gaviston Warren and Josh Hawkins expanded their lead to 39-23 midway through the period.
The home squad then pushed it further with another run to 40-26.
But, as the period began to wind down, the wheels began to fall of the Tigers wagon.
Charles Henderson's offense came to life and the Tigers were left looking at each other as the Trojan closed the 14 point gap to a 10 point margin with one period left to play.
The fourth quarter became the official's quarter as they took the game out of the hands of the players and put it in the hands of the shooters.
Nearly every trip down the court for both squads resulted in a foul call.
And with this, the Trojans proved to be the better team, closing the to as close as 5 with under three minutes left in the game.
McMeans take flight again down the center of the Trojans lane for the basket.
Tiger coach Randy Fullington calls a timeout to calm his troops down. But the calming didn't work as the Trojans clawed their way back into the game, thanks to four consecutive free throws.
Warren blasted a three from right top of the key, to push Greenville ahead,
Charles Henderson answers with a three of their own, cutting the lead to five.
From this point on it was nip and tuck with the Tigers struggling to keep their lead.
The Tigers were able to push the narrow gap back to nine and forced coach Carl Hollis to call a timeout to calm his Trojans down.
McMeans sinks a pair of free throws to push the Tigers ahead, but the Trojans answered back with a three to cut the lead to two points, 67-64.
But, the 6'8 Hawkins proved that size is an advantage as he took the basketball pass and finger rolled it into the Tiger basket, pushing them ahead 69-64 as time expired.
This win puts the Trojans and the Eagles tied for 4th in the area with two losses each and puts Greenville and Eufaula tied for first with one are loss apiece.