Kemper Co. downs West Lauderdale
By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
November 10, 2004
DEKALB Kemper County head boys basketball coach Mike Luke had to be thinking I told you so' as he watched his team's 19-point third quarter lead evaporate to just two points with 1:19 to play in his team's 83-77 win over West Lauderdale on Tuesday night.
Kemper County was strong from long range in the early going and rolled to a 38-23 halftime lead. The Wildcats, now 2-0 for the season, built their lead to 56-37 with 2:27 left in the third quarter before the visiting Knights began a heroic comeback.
West Lauderdale used a basket by Daniel Huggins who scored 30 of his game-high 34 points in the second half with 4:58 left to cut the Kemper County lead to eight points at 67-59. It was the first time the Wildcats had led by less than 10 points since midway in the second quarter.
Shardricus Thompson, who scored 28 points, nailed a three-pointer to put Kemper County up 70-59. From that point West Lauderdale outscored the Wildcats 14-5 to cut the Kemper County lead to 75-73 on a pair of free throws by Huggins with 1:33 left in the game.
The teams swapped a pair of free throws to keep it two points at 77-75, before Jeremy Hopson scored on a power move inside against three West Lauderdale defenders to put the Wildcats up by four.
From there, the Wildcats knocked down four free throws to take the win.
Rodricus Hopson scored 18 points for Kemper County, while Jeremy Hopson had 15. Colby Wren scored 11.
Huggins had 34 for West, followed by 18 from Mark Ford and 11 from Tony Jones.
Kemper Co. (girls) 46
W. Lauderdale 36
The Lady Wildcats scored 17 of the last 26 points to post their second win of the season.
Kemper County held a 29-27 lead and West Lauderdale had the ball when Javita Eades came up with a steal and a basket with 12.5 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Lady Wildcats up by four.
From there Kemper County just kept stretching the lead out on the way to pushing its record to 2-0 on the year.
Almetra Hicks led Kemper County with 11 points, while Eades had nine.
Summer Jones scored 10 points to lead the 2-2 Lady Knights.
