Knights move into 3A finals
By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Feb. 28, 2004
SUMMIT The West Lauderdale Knights secured a berth in the state tournament next week in Jackson with a 59-49 win over Port Gibson in the Class 3A Boys' South State semifinals Friday.
West will face Prentiss for the South half title tonight at 7:30 p.m. Prentiss used a 66-point outing from Al Jefferson to knock off Forest 74-57.
Friday's games as well as tonight's were moved to Southwest Mississippi Community College by order of the fire marshall due to severe overcrowding at the tiny North Pike High School gym on Thursday.
West had its hands full with Port Gibson most of the night before pulling away in the fourth quarter.
After scoring the game's first five points, West struggled the rest of the first half, trailing by as many as nine points before cutting its deficit to 32-27 going into halftime.
West took a 37-36 lead with 3:30 left in the third quarter when back-to-back turnovers by the Blue Waves led to a 6-0 Knights' run.
Port Gibson battled back to take a 41-37 lead in the final minute of the third period only to have West get two free throws from Chris Seaphus and two more from Rayshun Hopson in the last 33 seconds to even the contest at 41-41 heading into the final period.
Both teams scored a basket in the early stages of the fourth quarter before an 8-0 run gave the Knights the cushion they would need down the stretch.
In the run, Seaphus scored two baskets and made 2-of-4 free throws and Lee Nelson hit both of his free throws.
Daniel Huggins scored six of West's eight points in an 8-2 run to give the Knights their biggest lead of the game at 59-47 with 16.8 seconds left.
Seaphus led the Knights with 24 points as they improved to 28-8.
Nelson had 10 points for West, Huggins had nine, Mark Ford seven, and Kolin Boyd six.
Port Gibson, 12-23, got 15 points from Terrinell Claiborne, 14 from Jeremy Yates, eight from Denzel Marbley, and seven from Johnnie Smith.
As for slowing down Jefferson, who has scored 120 points in his two tournament games, Clark left impressed after watching the Prentiss-Forest game.
Jefferson, a 6-foot-9 University of Arkansas signee, had a noticeable limp in his left leg following Friday's win.
Prentiss 74
Forest 57
Jefferson scored 42 of Prentiss first 46 points and had 32 in the first half and 34 in the second as the Bulldogs improved to 24-6. He also had five dunks and blocked one shot while standing flat-footed.
The game was tied at 34 at halftime, but Prentiss outscored Forest 18-6 in the third quarter with Jefferson getting 16 points. The Bulldogs opened the period with a 10-0 run.
Forest, 24-10, got 18 points from Jacquas Jones, 15 from Jimmy Patrick, and 12 from Braxton Boone.
