Free throws decide games' fates

By By Rocky Higginbotham / special to The Star
Feb. 3, 2004
HEIDELBERG In a contest where the No. 4 and 5 seeds in the MPSA District 3-A Tournament struggled all night long from the field, free throws wound up being the difference.
Dustin McGowin knocked down both ends of a one-and-one situation with just 3.8 seconds left, lifting Newton County Academy to a 33-32 win over Central Academy in a first-round tournament game here at Heidelberg Academy.
The contest was one of two on tap in the first day of the event, with Winston Academy's girls beating Central Academy 49-38 in the other contest. Action continues here today at 4 p.m., with Wayne Academy meeting NCA in a girls' contest. At 5:30, Wayne and Sylva-Bay Academy tangle in a boys' game; with Kemper Academy meeting Sylva-Bay's girls at 7 p.m. and Kemper's boys tangling with Heidelberg at 8:30.
Newton Co. Academy 33
Central Academy (boys) 32
The teams split their regular-season meetings, and they couldn't have appeared to be more evenly-matched in Monday night's elimination game. But the Generals came from behind on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, earning a date with top-seeded Winston in Friday's 5:30 p.m. semifinal.
McGowin's two freebies with 3.8 seconds left won it for the 7-19 Generals, but it was Bo Diveley who kept NCA in it while coach Tim Bean's squad battled early foul trouble.
Diveley came off the bench to score 12 points, grab 11 rebounds, block five shots and come up with three steals.
The Generals went 13 minutes, 21 seconds without a field goal in the first half and found themselves down by as many as seven. But NCA scored the first nine points of the third quarter and held Central to just one field goal during a stretch of nearly 15 minutes, going up 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
There, a 3-pointer by Ben Walker his first points of the game put NCA up 25-24 with 5:12 remaining. But Central's Tony Sudduth scored the next eight points for his team all off assists from Ross Brown to put Central up 32-29 with just a minute left.
A putback from Walker pulled NCA within 32-31 with 23 seconds left, and Diveley's steal with 12 seconds remaining set up McGowin's game-winning free throws.
In addition to Diveley's performance, NCA got six points and six rebounds from John Shellenback and five points apiece from Daniel Grimes and Walker. Flynn Stevenson had eight rebounds and the Generals overcame 23 turnovers.
Central got 13 points, 17 rebounds and four assists from Brown and 12 points from Sudduth as the Vikings finished 11-14 after winning just four games last year.
Timothy Ratcliff had nine rebounds for CA, with Seth More and Chase Brown getting four steals apiece and Matt Persons six rebounds. The Vikings committed nine of their 17 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Winston Academy 49
Central Academy (girls) 38
The fourth-seeded Lady Patriots knocked off the Lady Vikings in an elimination game for the second consecutive season. Winston will now face top-seeded and host Heidelberg in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal.
Traci Whitehead scored a game-high 20 points and had eight steals in the win, while Hope Estes had nine points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Whitney Whiteside had six points and eight boards, Sally Porter had five points and five rebounds, Anna Ard scored five points and Lindsey Wright had eight boards for Winston which held a 43-33 edge on the glass and forced Central into 23 turnovers.
Eight of those came in the first quarter, when the Lady Vikings scored just four points.
Central was down 18-12 at halftime and 30-21 going into the fourth quarter.
Olivia Reed's 12 points led Central, and she also had nine rebounds. Laura Beth Wilson and Jordan Taylor scored 11 points apiece, with Taylor getting eight rebounds and Anzie Bennett picking up 10 rebounds and six steals before fouling out.
Central finished 13-14.