Bruce’s Demetric Evans and Vardaman’s Casey High combined to score 5 of the 447 total points on Monday, but they were the biggest baskets of the opening round of the Tater Tournament.
Shaunvanta Ingram sparked the Trojans with 25 of 29 in the second half
Bruce 55 West Point 52 (B)
All eyes were on Shaunvanta Ingram with the game tied 52-52 in the final seconds of the game, but he was only a decoy.
The play was designed to go to Devin Tillman, but the ball ended up in the hands of Evans who quickly launched a shot from NBA range that hit nothing-but-net. Evans’ lone basket of the night gave the Trojans a 55-52 lead with the clock showing nine-tenth of a second remaining.
“Tillman was suppose to be shooting the ball, but they were playing him pretty good,” Evans. “ He ended up getting me the ball and I just put it up cause I knew time was running out.”
“I tell the guys anytime they get a good luck to take it… Demetric ended up getting the ball with a good look and knocked it down,” Coach Willie Ray Brown.
A quick decision between the officials after a West Point timeout added two-seconds to the clock giving the Green Wave a slim glimmer of hope for overtime, but Michael Carr’s three-pointer came up short allowing the Trojans to celebrate the 55-52 victory.
“West Point has a great team… our guys hustled and fought real hard to get this real big win for us,” Brown.
Ingram led all scorers with 29 points despite only scoring 4 in the first half and Marcell Gaston added 10 for the Trojans. Curtis Hall led West Point with 13 while the Trojan defense held Carr to 2 points in the contest.
Casey High's basket late in the game put the Lady Rams in the championship game against the winner between Calhoun City and West Point
Vardaman 55 Caledonia 47 (G)
Casey High slipped behind the press for a lay-up that proved to be the straw that broke the Lady Confederates back and put the Lady Rams into the girls’ championship game on Friday.
A Caledonia turnover allowed the Lady Rams to get the ball with a 49-47 lead with just over a minute to play. The Lady Feds turned up the pressure in the front court allowing High to sneak down floor for Vardaman to throw over the top of the press for her only basket of the game and the 51-47 lead.
Rasheika Thompson and Kelsey Nelson took care of business from the free-throw line in the final seconds of the game to give the Lady Rams the 55-47 victory.
Thompson scored 16, Nelson and Jicobe Jones added 14 each for Vardaman. Soria Blach of Caledonia led all scorers with 24 points.
In other tournament action.
The West Point Lady Green Wave had no problem with the Bruce Lady Trojans while the Caledonia Confederates held off a late game rally from the Vardaman Rams to advance to the Friday’s championship game.
West Point 81 Bruce 55 (G)
Kelsei Ewings scored 35 points as the Lady Waves ran away from the Lady Trojans, literally.
Ewings scored 13 points in the first quarter on numerous transition baskets to give West Point a 22-10 edge and added another 10 points in the second as the Lady Wave went into halftime with a 47-16 lead. The Lady Trojans got things going in the third by outscoring West Point 24-17 to make it a 64-40 game, but the hole proved too big to climb out of as the Lady Wave cruised to the 81-55 victory.
Ewings led all scorers with 35, Yakira Edwards 16, and Kourtney Crowley added 14 points for West Point. Morgan Vickery and Lesley Wayne each led Bruce with 11 while Jasmine Hampton and Ranesha Stokes both added 10 points a piece.
Caledonia 55 Vardaman 47 (B)
Rickey McCollum sealed the victory for the Confederates with a thunderous dunk that sent the crowd into a frenzy and put Caledonia in Friday’s Boys Championship game against the winner between Bruce and Calhoun City.
Vardaman fought back from a 22-17 halftime deficit to make it a 41-39 ballgame heading into the final frame of play. The two teams flip flopped the lead back-and-forth until McCollum got back-to-back baskets off a pair of Ram turnovers before putting the exclamation mark on the victory with the slam.
McCollum led all scorers with 14 while Curtis Fluke, Delano Davis, and Gavin Coleman scored 11 points each for Caledonia. Sergio Prescott scored 13 and Gene Ruth added 12 for the Rams.
Tuesday’s Schedule
3:00 – Bruce vs Caledonia (G) – elimination game
4:30 – Vardaman vs West Point (B) – elimination game
6:00 – West Point vs Calhoun City (G)
7:30 – Bruce vs Calhoun City (B)
