PCA’s season finished in district tourney|Prep basketball
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 4, 2009
FLOWOOD — The end of Porters Chapel’s season was a microcosm of the rest of it. Promising at times, snakebitten at others, and just a little short at the end.
Spencer Pierce scored four of his team-high 14 points in the last 80 seconds, and Benton rallied from a six-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to beat PCA 45-42 in the first round of the District 5-A tournament on Tuesday.
Jacob Rachal had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Jay Wiley grabbed 10 rebounds for PCA, which ends the season with a 7-11 record. Benton (11-11) advanced to face top-seeded CM&I in the second round on Thursday.
“They came in today without three starters and played a dang good game. They showed up,” PCA coach E.J. Creel said of her team, which lost by 18 points to Benton in late January. “I hate it for them that it didn’t go their way.”
PCA led most of the game, but never by more than a few points. Benton finally took the lead at 35-34 on a 3-pointer by Daniel Pierce with 4:31 to play in the fourth quarter, and the teams traded baskets until the Raiders led 39-38 with 1:18 left. That was when things started to come apart for the Eagles.
As Benton prepared to inbound the ball under PCA’s basket, Creel screamed for a timeout and several of her players started to walk toward the bench. The timeout wasn’t granted, though, and the Raiders quickly inbounded the ball to Jordan Davis for an easy layup.
“I know I’m not very loud, but I’m standing where they can ‘T’ me up if they wanted to. I was that far out on the floor,” said Creel, who wandered out to the 3-point line near PCA’s bench the next time she wanted a timeout. “I don’t know if we could have won, but that made it a two-possession game. That would’ve put a damp on something.”
About 30 seconds later, after a PCA free throw made it 41-39, Benton was working time off the clock as PCA played for a defensive stop. The defense parted wide enough for Spencer Pierce to waltz through the lane for another uncontested layup.
“We couldn’t make shots any more. We made some stupid mistakes,” PCA guard Matthew Warren said.
Colby Rushing hit a 3-pointer with 26.8 seconds to play to cut it to 43-42, but Pierce added another layup with seven seconds left to make it a three-point game again. Warren, PCA’s best 3-point shooter, got a good look at a trey in the closing seconds but missed off the front of the rim as time expired.
“It was just short. I was tired,” said Warren, who scored six points while fighting foul trouble.
Veritas girls beat PCA, 48-19
Right about the time Porters Chapel fans raised an eyebrow at the scene unfolding before them, and started to entertain the possibility of a monumental upset, the roof started to cave in on their Lady Eagles.
Veritas outscored PCA 30-4 over the last 12 minutes of the first half, and cruised to a 29-point victory in the first round of the District 5-A tournament. Airriel O’Banner led second-seeded Veritas (13-4) with 14 points and nine steals, and Summer Fulcher scored 13 points.
Shelby Wells, who picked up three fouls in the first quarter, led PCA (4-14) with six points, and Paige Moore blocked six shots. PCA took only 24 shots in the game — Veritas had nearly twice as many in the first half — and turned the ball over 27 times.
Despite that, the Lady Eagles led 10-4 with about four minutes to play in the first quarter. They hustled after rebounds, created several jump ball situations and took advantage of a cold-shooting Veritas squad that hit only two of its first 16 field goal attempts.
Veritas quickly corrected that, though. The Lady Lions ratcheted up the press and hit 4 of 6 shots to end the first quarter, taking a 13-10 lead. They then held PCA without a point until Moore hit a pair of free throws with 3:46 left in the second quarter, and without a field goal until Wells dropped in a short jumper with 27 seconds left. The huge surge put Veritas ahead 34-14 at halftime.
After hitting 4 of 7 shots to start the game, PCA made one in each of the last three quarters.
“We came out real feisty. Then we got in foul trouble, and after we got down about 10, they had their way with us,” Creel said.
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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.