Hinds AHS steals victory from Vicksburg|[2/8/06]
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Executing in the clutch has been a problem for Vicksburg in many of its close losses this season. It happened again Tuesday night on Senior Night.
Hinds AHS spoiled a terrific game from Gator senior forward Brandon Harper in taking a 53-51 win. The War Dawgs, ranked third in the Class 2A boys poll, came up with the key play late to deny Harper and his team a win in their final regular season home game of the season.
Down 52-51, the Gators had 29 seconds to try and find a go-ahead basket. Hinds coach Keith Williams wanted to apply pressure to Gator guard Jonathan Phelps and nearly got a double-dribble call with 16 seconds to go.
After getting a timeout, VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson came up with another option.
“I knew they’d double-team Phelps if he got the inbound. That’s why we went through Fred (Denton). We’d let it go through Fred and hope to get Phelps a shot,” Robinson said.
Instead, pressure by Hinds’ Anthony Mayes caused a turnover, resulting in a fast-break for Mayes.
He was fouled hard but managed to make the first of a two shot foul with 6.2 seconds left. The second shot missed but the Gators had trouble, coming up cleanly with the ball and had to settle for a mid-court shot that was not even close.
“It was a tough game to lose, but we’ve had a lot of them like that,” Robinson said. “Harper played a helluva game, but we just didn’t execute on that last play.”
Hinds improves to 24-3 with the win. They’ll be a top seed in next week’s Division 6-2A Tournament at St. Andrew’s. The War Dawgs will benefit from a Mississippi High School Activities Association decision to ban Piney Woods from the state playoffs. Piney Woods defeated Hinds last season and was a favorite to repeat as division champions.
“We weren’t very sharp tonight. We didn’t execute one of our presses very well and we got in foul trouble,” Hinds coach Keith Williams said. “Coach Robinson had his guys prepared and Harper was a good guy for them, but we expected that.”
Harper finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Tony Ammons added 12 as Vicksburg slips to 13-13, heading into a regular season ending road game at Brandon Friday.
The War Dawgs got 16 points from Joseph White, 12 from Mayes and nine each from Jacorey Wright and Jarnovian Washington.
(G) Hinds AHS 68, VHS 55.
The Lady War Dawgs avenged their only loss of the season by coming back from a first half deficit to beat the Missy Gators.
Hinds, ranked second in Class 2A, improved to 26-1 with the win.
The Lady War Dawgs were down 24-12, but went on an 11-2 run to close the half and pull within three at 26-23.
“We got down and then started hitting some shots,” Hinds coach Bruce Baker said. “We got back in it and then it was nip-and-tuck in the second half.”
Vicksburg (12-14) was still up five, going to the fourth quarter at 47-42.
The Lady War Dawgs, though, got a huge final quarter from Sandra Moncure to turn deficit into a solid lead.
Iyuanna Brown led Hinds with 22 points.
Vicksburg was led by Kamiko Martin with 13 and Taylor Ammons had 12.