Controversial late foul call sinks Warren Central

Published 11:42 am Thursday, December 29, 2011

MENDENHALL — Not surprisingly, Warren Central and Port Gibson’s players and coaches saw the final sequence of their game Wednesday a little differently.

Warren Central thought players ought to be allowed to play, and the foul that sent Azell McCoy to the line to shoot the winning free throws should have gone uncalled. Port Gibson’s representatives thought it should’ve been called sooner.

Either way you saw it, both sides watched the shots drop through with seven-tenths of a second to play, and Port Gibson walked away with a 47-45 victory over the Vikings at the Mendenhall Holiday Tournament.

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McCoy’s free throws helped the Blue Waves (14-2) overcome a four-point deficit in the final 90 seconds and capped a wild finishing sequence. WC’s Kourey Davis had hit two free throws with 11.2 seconds left to tie it at 45. On the other end, McCoy had his shot blocked twice under the basket before he was fouled with less than one second to go.

“If he shoved him, I could see it. But a block from behind? They could’ve called 100 fouls like that and didn’t. But we put ourselves in that situation,” WC coach Chareck Cable said.

Cable’s counterpart, Port Gibson coach Kim Windom, was obviously happy with the referee’s decision.

“I think we got fouled twice. The second one they called,” Windom said. “(McCoy) is a sophomore. He’s been doing well. Our seniors stepped up and the young kids coming off the bench helped a lot.”

McCoy finished with 14 points for Port Gibson, and Kendrique Morgan had 15 points and seven rebounds. Davis led Warren Central (7-8) with 27 points, eight rebounds and five steals. The Vikings, though, hit only 2 of 10 shots from the field in the fourth quarter. That late swoon, as well as a failure to capitalize on 19 first-half turnovers by Port Gibson, turned out to be the Vikings’ undoing.

Tremaine Anderson hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to give Port Gibson a 27-24 lead.

“We shot ourselves out of the game. We have got to get a better idea of how to finish a game,” Cable said.

(G) Vicksburg 51,

Florence 38

Ama Arkoful had 23 points, eight assists and seven steals to lead Vicksburg (6-8) to its second consecutive victory.

The Missy Gators hit 9 of 12 shots in the first quarter and raced out to an 18-4 lead. They stretched it to 22 points by halftime, then coasted home. Florence (3-14) got as close as 11 points with a run late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t overcome a 3-for-23 (13 percent) shooting performance in the first half.

(G) Port Gibson 49,

Warren Central 37

Port Gibson (14-2) got out to a 23-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, then held on for a victory over Warren Central (3-9). The Lady Vikes outscored Port Gibson over the last three quarters, but couldn’t overcome a dreadful first period in which they hit only 1 of 5 shots and commited 11 turnovers.

Chicurial Hill led Port Gibson with 14 points and six steals, and Rajee McDonald had nine points and eight steals. Rolonda Lovette scored 15 points for Warren Central, and Shegredda Shorter grabbed 13 rebounds.

(B) Magee 61, VHS 52

Kalen Jackson scored 17 points, Devonta McDonald added 15, and Magee (5-5) pulled away from Vicksburg in the fourth quarter to hand the Gators their second straight loss.

After Vicksburg (6-8) erased an early eight-point deficit, neither team led by more than four until the fourth quarter. Magee’s Kendrick Smith hit a tip-in with 4:20 to play and Brian Mills hit a shot in the lane 20 seconds later to give the Trojans a 54-46 lead. Vicksburg’s only points in the last four minutes came on 3-pointers by De’Angelo Richardson and Edward Davis.

Richardson finished with 12 points to lead the Gators, and Davis scored 11.

“We couldn’t make any shots,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “When you can’t make shots, you can’t win.”