Philadelphia takes semifinal victory

By By Rocky Higginbotham / special to The Star
Feb. 20, 2004
PHILADELPHIA Kemper County and Philadelphia locked horns in the finale of Thursday's Division 5-2A Tournament lineup, and the second-seeded Wildcats and third-seeded Tornadoes didn't disappoint by turning in the most entertaining contest of the evening.
Host Philly withstood Kemper's best shot early, then took complete control when one of Kemper's best players went down late pulling away for a 72-57 victory over the Wildcats in the division tourney semifinals.
The Tornadoes will battle Williams-Sullivan in the championship game tonight at 8:30. The top-seeded Yellowjackets beat Newton 75-56 in Thursday's other semifinal, and Newton will now tangle with Kemper in today's consolation game at 5:30. In girls' action Thursday, Philadelphia roped Ackerman 67-36 and Newton whipped Williams-Sullivan 69-48 to set up tonight's action. The top two seeds, Newton and Philly, meet for the championship at 7 p.m., with Ackerman taking on Williams-Sullivan in the consolation game at 4 p.m.
Philadelphia boys 72
Kemper County 57
The Tornadoes got a career night from Eric Lyons and solid efforts from a supporting cast as they won for the second time in three meetings with Kemper.
The Wildcats, now 17-15, blitzed Philly early with a 12-5 run and were up 20-12 late in the first quarter. But Philadelphia got a big push just before the half to pull within 33-31 despite having been outrebounded 27-13 in the first two periods.
Devin Grace's 3-pointer was Kemper's only basket during the first 7-plus minutes of the second half, when Philadelphia went on a 16-4 run to take control.
Lyons turned in a 29-point, eight-rebound performance and Bobby Goodin scored 22 for the Tornadoes, who improved to 20-8. Trey Beamon had nine points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots and Kyle Robinson had six assists.
Rodricus Hopson led Kemper with 15 points, while Shardricus Thompson scored 14 and Grace 10. Wren had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Philadelphia 67
Ackerman girls 36
The Lady Tornadoes held Ackerman scoreless for nearly 10 minutes in improving to 23-4 on the season.
Philadelphia was already up 17-8 after one quarter and 29-18 midway through the second. That's when the sixth-seeded Lady Indians went 9 minutes, 35 seconds without a single point. By the time the drought ended, Philly was up by 28 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
Dominetrix Hunter scored a game-high 24 points to lead Philadelphia. Ashley Lowery scored 18, while Shenique Brass had 12 points and game-highs of seven assists and four steals. Natonya McWilliams added six points and eight boards in the win.
Williams-Sullivan 75
Newton boys 56
The top-seeded Yellowjackets avenged their only division loss of the season by pulling away from Newton in the second half.
The nip-and-tuck affair was tied 26-26 at halftime and 34-34 midway through the third quarter. Williams-Sullivan scored 11 unanswered points, however, and even after Newton got a putback just seconds before the period ended, the Tigers were down 47-34.
Giovanti Williamson scored 15 points to lead Williams-Sullivan, which had seven players score at least six points. Khentrell Houston tallied 11 and Chris White scored 10. Newton got 16 points from Cornelius Caraway and 15 from Kolby Tillman.
Newton girls 69
Williams-Sullivan 48
The Lady Tigers took control early, building a double-digit lead in the opening quarter to advance to the finals. Newton was up 19-9 after one period and 36-26 at halftime.
Karmeshea Jones led a balanced scoring attack for coach Crandal Porter with 16 points, while Chotsani Henderson scored 12 and Rosalind Jones 10. Whitney Thames added nine points and Jessica Anderson scored eight.
Williams-Sullivan got 12 points from Royquitta Dixon, 11 from Kristina Scruggs and 10 from Brittany Moore. Portia Webster who had 27 points and 24 rebounds in her team's win over Kemper County earlier this week was held to seven points.