Puckett slips past St. Aloysius|Prep basketball
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 14, 2009
PUCKETT — Given a chance to escape from basketball purgatory, St. Aloysius just couldn’t find the door.
The Flashes committed seven turnovers and hit just 4 of 17 shots overall in the fourth quarter , then missed two 3-pointers in the closing seconds Tuesday, allowing Puckett to hang on for a 47-44 victory.
Puckett never led by more than seven, nor less than five in the second half until the last three minutes. St. Al’s struggles, though, prevented it from overtaking the Wolves and stealing a division win on the road.
“We got some good looks, some good shots tonight, and they just didn’t fall. It happens,” St. Al coach Gary Miller said. “I was proud of them. They never quit until the end.”
Alex Lanier led St. Al with 10 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Lewis had seven points and 12 rebounds, and Ford Biedenharn had eight points and 10 rebounds. For Puckett (5-8, 5-2 Division 7-1A), Christian Holmes and Broderick Lamb each scored 18 points and combined to hit eight of the Wolves’ nine 3-pointers.
Six of those treys came in the first half, when Puckett built a 31-26 lead.
“Broderick wasn’t focused when he first got out there. He’s one of those we call our Dow Jonesers. He’s either up or down,” Puckett coach Paul Hardy said with a laugh. “Once he got a little confidence and hit a couple shots, he got us going.”
Puckett never was able to pull away after halftime, though, nor was St. Al able to pull closer. The teams traded buckets in a bizarre tit-for-tat that kept the margin in the same five-to-seven point range most of the way. When the Flashes would hit a shot, Puckett would answer. When the Wolves would go cold, so would St. Al.
“Every time we tried to push the ball, we threw it away,” said Hardy, whose team had 10 turnovers in the second half. “It looked like our best player was in a St. Al uniform, because we kept throwing it right to them.”
Finally, with four minutes left in the game, the Flashes broke the stalemate when Luke Burnett was fouled on a 3-point try and hit one of the three free throws to cut it to 42-38. St. Al later got within a basket, but Lamb drilled his last 3-pointer of the game with 1:22 to play to push it back to 45-40.
Two more St. Al baskets got them within a point, but Holmes made the margin three again with a pair of free throws with 32.7 seconds left. St. Al then inbounded the ball and spent half the remaining time looking for a shot. Biedenharn finally missed a 3-pointer that was rebounded by Lanier and kicked back out to Lewis. Lewis’ last-ditch 3 caromed off the rim and out of bounds as time expired.
Puckett girls beat St. Al, 59-46
One bad quarter, and plenty of bad free throws, was enough to send St. Aloysius down in defeat on Tuesday.
Puckett hit 10 of 15 shots in the second quarter, and St. Al made only 12 of 27 free throws in the game. That helped Puckett take a double-digit lead at halftime, and it held off a late comeback by the Lady Flashes to preserve the victory.
Katie Koestler led St. Al with 18 points and nine rebounds, and Carlye Smith scored 11 points. Mariah Anderson had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Puckett (3-13, 2-5), while Erica Fletcher had 13 points and nine rebounds. Fletcher did all of her damage in the second quarter, when she hit three 3-pointers.
That helped Puckett outscore St. Al 25-14 in the second quarter, and the Lady Wolves led by as many as 17 points in the third before the Lady Flashes regrouped. St. Al whittled away at the deficit, getting as close as five points midway through the fourth — but no closer.
Puckett’s Jazmine Crain scored six straight points, and Skyla Meeks added another basket as Puckett went on an 8-2 run over a two-minute span.
“We started turning it over, not passing very well and weren’t hustling as much,” St. Al’s Tori Hines, who had six points and 10 rebounds, said of her team’s swoon.
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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.