Wildcats and Cougars head to semi-finalsBy Darron Thomas
The Chamberlain-Hunt Wildcats have flown under the radar to most folks this basketball season. While the word of a seven foot center tends to get around rather quickly what didn’t get around was how much support center David Hahn has around him on the court. The Simpson Cougars found that out last night as Chamberlain-Hunt advanced to the semi-finals with a sound 66-51 win.
Wildcat sophomore Chase Deculus had a game high 26 points against a Simpson defense focused on stopping David Hahn. That game plan seemed to work early as the Cougars ran out to an 11-6 lead on an Andy Maddox 3-pointer nearly halfway through the opening quarter. After a Chamberlain-Hunt timeout the Wildcats would get a basket from Ifanyi Uzegbunum off of an inbounds play to trim the Cougar lead to 11-8. Chamberlain-Hunt would cap off a 9-0 run on a Chase Deculus 15 foot jump shot with 17 seconds remaining and take a 15-11 lead into the second quarter.
Simpson opened the second quarter with a Cory Herrington 3-pointer to bring the Cougars to within one at 15-14. A David Hahn offensive rebound and put back on the next possession would put the Wildcats up 18-14. With 4:11 left until the half Justin Griffin’s basket pulled Simpson back to 18-16 but that would be as close as the Cougars would get the rest of the night. Chamberlain-Hunt would go on to outscore Simpson 14-5 the remaining four minutes to take a 32-21 lead into the locker room. Wildcat Chase Deculus totaled 10 points in the second quarter.
Simpson managed to cut the lead to six at 37-31 with 4:31 left in the third quarter on a Cory Herrington 3-pointer but Chamberlain-Hunt’s Keeniel Weaver would drain consecutive 3-pointers to push the Wildcat lead back to 43-31 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. A Jordan Ainsworth 3-pointer with 4 seconds on the clock cut the lead to 47-37 at the end of three quarters.
Chamberlain-Hunt would outscore the Simpson Cougars 19-14 in the final quarter en route to the 66-51 win.
(Above) Wildcat center David Hahn drew lots of attention last night.Chase Deculus led Chamberlain-Hunt with 26 points, David Hahn added 13, Keeniel Weaver had 12, and Ifanyi Uzegbunum 8.
Simpson was led by Andy Maddox with 12 points, Jordan Ainsworth and Justin Griffin had 11 each.
The amount of attention Wildcat center David Hahn garners leaves open shots from the perimeter and if CHA is hitting those shots they can be a handful as Simpson found out last night.
(Above) Brookhaven's defense frustrated River Oaks most of the game.
In the final contest of the evening the Brookhaven Cougars found themselves in familiar territory once again. Only needing one win to advance to the south state semi-finals and a ticket to next week’s state tournament. Unfortunately for the River Oaks Mustangs they were the team in the path of the #1 ranked Cougars.
There was hope for River Oaks early on as they stayed close to Brookhaven only trailing 14-9 after one quarter of play. But with the 3-point shooting of senior Brookhaven guard Jeremy Foster the Cougars would quickly widen the margin to 29-14. Foster would drain three of his four 3-pointers in the first half and the Brookhaven defense would not allow River Oaks to get into any type of flow on offense. Brookhaven took a 38-18 lead into halftime.
The Brookhaven pressure defense continued to frustrate River Oaks in the third quarter and a Blaine Roberts 3-pointer midway through would put Brookhaven up 50-18. The quarter ended with River Oaks looking at a 54-24 deficit.
Brookhaven went on to eliminate the River Oaks Mustangs 67-44 and will take on the Trinity Saints today at 7:15pm.
Sophomore Sidney Chaffin led Brookhaven with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Foster added 12 (4/5 3 point shooting), Josh Winborne 11, and Jamison Powell had 8 points and 7 assists.
River Oaks was led Cody Trichell with 16 points and Vincent Moore added 10.
There was hope for River Oaks early on as they stayed close to Brookhaven only trailing 14-9 after one quarter of play. But with the 3-point shooting of senior Brookhaven guard Jeremy Foster the Cougars would quickly widen the margin to 29-14. Foster would drain three of his four 3-pointers in the first half and the Brookhaven defense would not allow River Oaks to get into any type of flow on offense. Brookhaven took a 38-18 lead into halftime.
The Brookhaven pressure defense continued to frustrate River Oaks in the third quarter and a Blaine Roberts 3-pointer midway through would put Brookhaven up 50-18. The quarter ended with River Oaks looking at a 54-24 deficit.
Brookhaven went on to eliminate the River Oaks Mustangs 67-44 and will take on the Trinity Saints today at 7:15pm.
Sophomore Sidney Chaffin led Brookhaven with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Foster added 12 (4/5 3 point shooting), Josh Winborne 11, and Jamison Powell had 8 points and 7 assists.
River Oaks was led Cody Trichell with 16 points and Vincent Moore added 10.
(Above) Brookhaven's Blaine Roberts draws contact from Will White of River Oaks.
Today’s semi-finals will not only showcase the four best teams in South AA but, in my humble opinion, showcase the four best teams in AA all together. These four teams may be collectively better than the four than advanced to last year’s state final four in Grenada. If you’re a basketball junkie Gallman is the place to be today and tomorrow
Today’s semi-finals will not only showcase the four best teams in South AA but, in my humble opinion, showcase the four best teams in AA all together. These four teams may be collectively better than the four than advanced to last year’s state final four in Grenada. If you’re a basketball junkie Gallman is the place to be today and tomorrow
