Jones lifts Brantley past Dale County
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 23, 2014
The Brantley Bulldogs knocked off the Dale County Warriors in overtime of the fifth place game in the Andalusia Invitational tournament Saturday night.
In the first period, the Bulldogs started off with a 9-6 lead. Warriors’ Eric Crawford went 3-for-4 from the line. Bulldogs’ Darian Jones had 4 points in the period, and went 2-for-2 from the line.
The Warriors came out on fire in the second with 18 points. The scoring burst gave the Warriors a 24-23 lead at halftime. T. McMillian had 5 points for the Warriors including a 3-pointer and going 2-for-2 from the line. Jones put up 8 points for the Bulldogs. Adrian Person Jr. had a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs took the lead back at the end of the third 37-31. The Bulldogs defense only allowed the Warriors 7 points in the third. Jones had 4 more points for the Bulldogs, and Person. had another 3-pointer.
In the fourth, the Warriors defense stepped up allowing the Bulldogs only 5 points. Person. had a 3-pointer with just three minutes left to put the Bulldogs up by two. With two minutes left the Warriors’ Akeem Jackson tied the game up at 40-40. Bradon Walker put the Bulldogs up 42-40 with under two minutes to play, but Jeffery Whatley tied the game up at 42-42 as time ran out to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Jones put the Bobcats on his back and guided them to victory. Overtime is half the time of normal periods, but that didn’t stop Jones from putting up 10 points in the period. Jones had 4 points in the final 10 seconds to give the Bulldogs a 55-53 victory. With just 9 seconds on the clock Jones went coast-to-coast for a layup to tie the game 53-53. On the Warriors inbound pass Jones stole the ball, and was fouled in the act of shooting. Jones then nailed both shots to give the Bulldogs a 55-53 win.
Jones led all scorers with 26 points for the Bulldogs, and Person. finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Crawford topped the Warriors with 12 points, and Whatley, Jackson and Randy Crittenden had 8 each.