Knights shut down Chiefs
By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Feb. 25, 2004
COLLINSVILLE West Lauderdale boys basketball coach Duran Clark has waited a long time for his Knights to play a home game in the South State Tournament.
When it finally happened, his Knights took advantage of the opportunity.
West Lauderdale used a smothering defense to force Tylertown into making turnover after turnover as the home team rolled to a 70-44 win in the South State play-in game on Tuesday night.
The game was tight early, with West Lauderdale leading 9-8 with 4:22 to play in the first quarter, before the Knights scored 11 of the next 13 points to go up 20-10 after one quarter and take control of the game.
Next up for the Knights is the South State Tournament on Thursday against Jefferson Coutny at 4 p.m.
Crystal Springs is still officially listed as the host site despite being eliminated by Jefferson County 72-65 on Tuesday night. Normally, one of the teams in the tournament is required to be the host.
A win on Thursday would put West Lauderdale into the semifinals on Friday. From there, one win out of two games would push the Knights into the MHSAA Class 3A State Tournament next week.
West Lauderdale's win on Tuesday night was certainly a team effort, as each of the Knights came up with steals and forced turnovers against the Chiefs, who were playing without their starting senior point guard, who was suspended from the team on Monday.
While West Lauderdale was keeping the Chiefs off the scoreboard, they were racking up plenty of points themselves mostly only fastbreaks and big plays.
West Lauderdale led 20-10 after one quarter, 29-16 at the half and 44-24 after three quarters of play. Tylertown began to try to catch up by shooting from long-range and made its first three-pointer of the night when Antoine Dillon connected with 5:35 left in the game to bring the Chiefs to within 18 points at 48-30.
The Knights, now 26-8 for the year, were led in scoring by Mark Ford with 20 points and Daniel Huggins with 15. Rayshun Hopkins added 10 for the winners, while Greg Montye led Tylertown (18-13) with 11.
