Wildcats grab comeback victory at Newton
By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
January 31, 2004
NEWTON The Kemper County Wildcats rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to knock off Newton 92-90 in overtime in Division 5-2A action Friday night.
The Wildcats finally caught the Tigers at 78-78 on a layup by Shardricus Thompson with 28 seconds left in regulation.
A basket by William Dale off a Newton turnover put the Wildcats up 80-78 with 16 seconds remaining.
Newton, which had three players foul out in the fourth quarter, forced overtime when Jemario Walker scored off an inbounds play with only six seconds to go to tie the battle at 80.
Kemper scored all 12 of its overtime points from the free-throw line as the Wildcats were 12-of-14 in the extra four-minute period.
Thompson was 7-of-8 at the line in overtime, while Rodricus Hopson made all four of his charity tosses.
Newton led 24-18 after one quarter, carried a 44-34 lead into halftime and was up 64-50 to start the fourth quarter before Kemper County coach Arthur Carter's strategy of substituting five players at a time throughout the game began to pay off.
Newton turnovers allowed Kemper to whittle a 64-48 Tiger lead down to 70-69 with 3:35 to go in regulation.
Newton built its lead back to four on two occasions, the last coming with 59 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Cornelius Caraway.
The Tigers made only two of their next four free throws as the Wildcats rallied for a brief 80-78 lead.
In the game's final 12 minutes, Kemper was 18-of-23 at the free-throw line, while Newton was 15-of-23.
Kemper, 14-11 overall and 7-3 in 5-2A, got 30 points from Hopson, 25 from Thompson, 20 from Colby Wren and eight from Dale. Thompson had 15 points over the final 12 minutes.
Newton, 13-13 and 4-4, got 27 points from Brandon Shelton, who hit four of his five 3-point baskets in the first quarter. Courtney Ruffin had 20 points, Darrin Murrell had nine, Caraway had eight, and Walter McDonald scored six.
Newton girls 71
Kemper Co. 63
After trailing nearly all of the first half, Newton went on an 18-0 run early in the third quarter to grab a 53-34 lead as the Lady Tigers improved to 8-1 in 5-2A and 19-7 overall.
Kemper County led 17-15 after one quarter only to have Newton take a 35-32 lead into halftime.
After the Lady Wildcats opened the second half with a basket to close to within one point, Newton ran off 18 unanswered points and led by as many as 21 points before Kemper closed to within eight.
Karmarshea Jones led Newton with 20 points. Jessica Anderson scored 17, Whitney Thames had eight, Chotsani Henderson added seven, Tawaytha Evans six and Rosalind Jones five.
Kemper County, 6-19, got 18 points from Melody Nave, 13 apiece from Almetra Hicks and Javitia Eades and 12 from LaKaisha Coleman.
