Elba beats Straughn 54-42; Martavious Gray drains 5 3-pointers in win

Elba shot the “lights out” of Straughn in a 54-42 regular-season victory on Friday night.

Martavious Gray led ninth-ranked Elba with 22 points, which included five 3-pointers. Two other players scored in double figures in Denzel Thomas with 14 points and Cobe Goosby with 12 points.

Coming off a 54-49 area loss to Southside Selma on Thursday night, Straughn put forth a good effort against a good Elba team, SHS coach Rusty Andrews said.

“We played well,” Andrews said. “Elba just shot the lights out of us.”

With this loss, Straughn drops to 10-4 on the season. Elba improves to 15-2.

SHS took an early 4-2 lead in the first period on a nice roll pass to Rollin Kinsaul from JD Driver down in the paint.

Gray would then shot his first 3-pointer of the game with 6:18 left to give his team a 5-4 advantage.

Brennan Maddox answered with a trey of his own to put SHS ahead 7-5. Kinsaul later added a foul shot for a 3-point lead.

Goosby then got a turn around jumper on the baseline; Driver made a put back for SHS; and Gray drained his second 3-pointer for a 10-10 tie during the next three series.

Straughn took a 12-10 lead when Kinsaul found Driver.

Elba’s Nick Green then got a drive to go at the tail end of the first period to give his team a lead it would never give up.

Gray made a trey within the first minute of the second period, and Reheem Newson added another for a 20-15 advantage.

During the shooting display Elba was giving the crowd, Straughn’s Brice Scott managed to get two blocks during the second.

Straughn’s Tucker Lawless hit a 3-pointer with 2:12 left in the first half to cut the lead to 24-18.

Gray then got another 3-pointer at the buzzer and EHS led 30-19 at the break.

Elba made it 37-21 on another Gray 3-pointer with a little more than four minutes to go in the third period.

With about 40 seconds left, Straughn’s Devin Scott got a rebound and put back, and SHS trailed 42-28 going into the fourth period.

Straughn tried hard to come back in the final eight minutes of the game, but EHS kept making shots and was just a little too quick.

Goosby got a fade-away jumper and two foul shots for a 46-30 lead.

SHS didn’t give up despite the deficit, especially when Kinsaul forced a steal and then Driver passed it to Scott, who then laid it in for a 49-38 score.

Andrews said he thought his boys handled the press well.

“We knew what they were going to hurt us on the back end,” he said. “We thought we would live and die with them shooting it outside.”

Kinsaul led SHS with nine points.

In B-team action, EHS outscored SHS 11-3 in the fourth period and went on to won 28-27.

Jonathan Driver led SHS with 10 points. Jarvaris Samuel chipped in eight points.

Grant Akridge led EHS with 12 points.

Straughn is back in action on Tuesday at Opp for an area contest.

Straughn girls 51, Elba girls 41

Jacie Williamson and Katelyn Kinsaul finished in double figures to lead SHS in the win over Elba last night.

Kinsaul led SHS with 16 points, and Williamson chipped in 14 during a game where their team struggled against Elba’s man-to-man defense throughout the game.

It’s a defensive scheme the team hasn’t seen in a while, SHS coach Scott Kinsaul said.

“We haven’t seen man to man in a long time, and as a coach, you want everything to be perfect, and it can’t be,” Kinsaul said. “The girls played hard. We just got to take care of the ball better and make better decisions.”

EHS led 4-1 in the first period, and SHS went on a 7-0 run, which began on a Kinsaul to Williamson pass inside.

Williamson later added an easy bucket for a 8-4 lead, and was found against by Kinsaul later on as SHS went on to lead 17-10 after the first period. Janelle Nurse got in a 3-pointer right before the buzzer.

During the second period, SHS went ahead 23-15 after Kinsaul got a steal, passed it to Williamson, who then found Brentley Armstrong for a bucket.

Straughn’s Paige Taylor got a steal and fed Armstrong for a basket and her team led 29-17 at halftime.

EHS started the third on a 6-0 run, but it was quashed when Kinsaul made a jumper with 5:38 left.

For a 36-29 lead, Straughn’s Harley Adcock got the ball to Kinsaul, who then tried to convert a 3-point play in the paint with 1:12 to go.

SHS led 38-29 after the third period.

Throughout the entire game, SHS didn’t have an answer for A’Jaspin Whitfield, who led EHS with 27 points.

Armstrong chipped in eight points for SHS. Taylor added seven.

“I just was proud of the way we played after a long, tough night (Thursday night),” Kinsaul said. “I was proud of the way we executed our offense, and just pleased overall with the win.”